Clear up confusion

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State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington, is troubled by a problem his legislative colleagues should have cleared up a couple of years ago. The state law allowing the 2 percent hospitality tax that some cities and counties have added to the 5 percent state sales tax has a noticeable flaw.

The law is needlessly confusing about precisely what items are "prepared meals and beverages" and therefore subject to what's commonly called the restaurant tax. In some places, any so-called "prepared" food sold in a grocery store is slapped with the additional 2 percent tax, while other local ordinances seem more in keeping with the law's intent by levying the tax on food and beverages in restaurants and bars.

Knotts is right to push for a clarification on how the tax should be applied in grocery stores. As he told The State newspaper, "There was never any intent to tax watermelon or sliced ham or anything like that." But in some communities, the additional 2 percent tax is added to everything from packages of sliced watermelon or sliced ham to bagels or cakes baked in the store. That's not fair, and it's not faithful to the intent of state lawmakers as reflected in the debate surrounding this state law.

The flaw that concerns Knotts surfaced in Greenville County two years ago after four municipalities adopted the hospitality tax. Shoppers complained, for example, when bagels bought in the grocer's bakery were hit with a higher tax than a virtually identical package of bagels bought from the bread aisle.

Many cities and counties have adopted the 2 percent hospitality tax as a rather painless way to pay for things that have a "tourism-related" purpose. The tax has the added benefit of raising needed revenue without increasing the conspicuous and much-loathed property tax.

The law needs fixing, though. Any law so confusing that it's applied unevenly from city to city needs to be tweaked so it's more specific, and thus, more fair.