State legislators return to Columbia today for a new year in which there's the fear they will do long-term damage in the name of property tax reform. As hard as it will be in this election year, lawmakers should slow down, listen to reason and tweak, not significantly change, this state's property tax system.

Property taxes aren't the only thing on the table this year. Legislators face many issues aimed at improving the educational and economic competitiveness of this state. Improving early childhood education, particularly for at-risk students, should be at the top of the list, but lawmakers must resist simply shuffling money from other critical areas in education to help younger children.

Making South Carolina more competitive by enacting worker's compensation reform also is needed. Some ideas put forth by business leaders, especially those connected with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, include conducting an orderly dissolution of the Second Injury Fund, adopting the American Medical Association's guidelines on impairment ratings and establishing fees for outpatient and pharmacy expenses. In making changes in worker's compensation, lawmakers must make sure that while removing problems that have crept into the system, they protect employees who are injured on the job and deserve to be treated fairly.

No area is more important than economic development because creating and sustaining well-paying jobs will lift all boats in South Carolina. People in this state earn about 82 cents on the dollar compared to people elsewhere in the United States. This income disparity results in a diminished quality of life, fewer job opportunities for state residents and less state revenue available for critical needs such as education and infrastructure.

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The biggest temptation facing lawmakers, however, will be to enact sweeping changes in the property tax system, and that would have lasting, and negative, consequences. Some ideas include swapping an increase in the sales tax for property taxes for homeowners, capping the value of a home after reassessment and preventing taxes from increasing on a home because of reassessment until the home is sold.

Most of these ideas come with a terrible downside. Property taxes provide local governments with a more stable source of revenue than the sales tax. At the same time, the sales tax is more regressive. Also, restricting the ability of local governments to raise taxes -- usually for services demanded by taxpayers such as fire or police protection -- will bring its own set of problems. And local governments unable to raise taxes most likely will increase fees, and that will again hurt lower-income people the most. Plus, a significant increase in the sales tax will put this state's border counties at a disadvantage compared to neighboring states.