This change to the Utah Constitution would allow the Legislature to pass a law to exempt tangible personal property from tax when it generates an inconsequential amount of tax revenue. It doesn't make sense to burden small business owners with the paperwork when that effort doesn't produce much tax income. In short, it's more trouble than it's worth.

The exemption is a fine idea. Trouble is, the state Constitution doesn't allow the Legislature to pass such an exemption. If voters approve Amendment 1, it could.

In fact, the Legislature already has passed a law that would go into effect if Amendment 1 passes. It would exempt tangible personal property with a total combined market value of $3,500 or less.

Effective Jan. 1, 2007, if the value of all of a business or individual taxpayer's tangible personal property were $3,500 or less, the person or business would not pay tax on that property. In subsequent years, the State Tax Commission would adjust that amount for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index.

The fiscal analysis in the Utah Voter Information Pamphlet produced by the lieutenant governor's office says that the tax exemption would reduce government revenues by about $1 million. That is less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the approximately $1.6 billion in property taxes now collected statewide. Because state laws hold roughly constant the total amount of tax collected annually, with the exception of economic growth, that $1 million in tax burden would be shifted to all other taxpayers. But because the amount is so small, the change would be negligible.

One could argue that, as a matter of fairness, if $1 billion in personal tangible property is subject to tax, then $1,000 in value should be also. But as a practical matter, the state rightly provides exemptions from other taxes for people in poverty and, most recently, for a portion of the sales tax on food.

In this case, the tax unnecessarily burdens the smallest of small businesses. In Salt Lake County, for example, the tax on a value of $3,500 would be $52.50.

Relieving that load, at little cost to the public treasury, is a good reason to vote for Constitutional Amendment 1.