MOST PEOPLE PROBABLY missed or failed to appreciate the news from the past few days that has the greatest potential to help our state move forward over the next generation. It had nothing to do with the elections or the court case challenging state spending for schools or any of a number of other headline-grabbers. It was the announcement by the Palmetto Institute that it has commissioned a study to define “a fair and equitable tax system that spurs job creation and economic development.”

It’s easy to be underwhelmed by yet another study, particularly of something that sounds so ivory towerish as “tax policy” or, as we like to refer to it around here, “comprehensive tax reform.” And certainly, there is the danger that this study will go the way of dozens before it — onto a dusty shelf, to be referred to by policy wonks but never acted upon.

But we are convinced that this particular study holds great potential, because this analysis is being undertaken by a group of leaders in our community who take the long view and are not motivated primarily by the desire to use the issue to win advantage.

The Palmetto Institute, an organization formed in 2002 by some of the state’s most prominent business-civic leaders to promote research-based policy-making, argues that the tax system not only is unfair to many South Carolinians, but also works against the state’s long-term economic interests.

The concept behind this latest effort is simple, and consistent with what we and others have been advocating for years, even if this group is taking more of a market-driven approach than has traditionally been taken: South Carolina’s economy has changed drastically over the past few decades, but our tax system has remained fundamentally unchanged, both distorting the balance of taxation and creating a gap between economic activity and state revenue. The tax changes that have been made — nearly all of them tax cuts — have been nips and tucks around the edges, designed to quell the loudest complaints of the moment, without considering how those changes affect the overall system.

One danger in an economics-driven approach to tax policy is that its definition of “fair and equitable” could veer too far toward what businesses see as fair and equitable and away from how individuals define that. It’s also possible that it will focus narrowly on precisely what fosters “job creation and economic growth,” relying too strongly on business-friendly tax policy and not enough on generating sufficient revenue to grow a better-educated, healthier citizenry. But those dangers seem less likely coming from a noblesse-oblige organization such as this one, whose mission is to foster “a business, political, social and educational environment that increases the wealth” of all South Carolinians.

By far the greatest danger of this initiative is not what it could cause, but what it could prevent. The study, which isn’t due out until June, comes at a time of heightened interest among lawmakers in the idea of finally overhauling the tax system. It is easy to imagine lawmakers using this initiative as an excuse to yet again put off finally acting. That would be abusive. As Palmetto Institute Chairman Darla Moore acknowledged, the information her organization hopes to pull together is already generally available; the clearest potential benefit of this effort is to pressure the General Assembly to act. We should look at it not so much as a necessary first step of tax reform, but as a hammer that can be used if lawmakers again fail to act.