Fairness delayed

Gov. Asa Hutchinson understands the answers aren’t always in the financial analysis. A lot of his job boils down to money — does the state have enough to do this job or that? Can it afford a tax reduction, i.e. letting Arkansans keep more of their hard-earned money?

He’s no tax-and-spender. Or would that be taxer-and-spender?

But the governor also knows state policies ought to have fairness as a fundamental component. He recently spoke to members of the Arkansas Municipal League, which is made up of city administrators and elected leaders from all over the state, including Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse, the league’s current president. Hutchinson told them he has no plans to call a special session to consider legislation for collecting sales taxes on online purchases, a measure many city leaders would support.

Hutchinson noted motivation to make such a change isn’t just the money. “The motivation is fairness in our tax system that will create an equal playing field for all our merchants, whether they are online or otherwise,” he said.

The reluctance of many state leaders to pursue collection of state and local taxes on online purchases is misplaced. Some claim having the same expectation for online purchases as those made at brick-and-mortar, local stores is “raising taxes.” It’s a ludicrous notion, and it’s unfair to local merchants. But opponents to fairness — mostly within the Republican Party that used to fight for local businesses — fear someone might paint them with a “pro-taxation” brush.

Hutchinson may favor fairness, but he has no interest in calling a special session only to watch the reason for it go down in flames. He said there’s no consensus on the issue among lawmakers.

This editorial board’s consensus is taxes on sales ought to be collected even-handedly, through merchants on Main Street and those on the information superhighway. It’s hard to see how people opposed to that idea are watching out for local businesses.