I’m not the brightest bulb in the lamp or the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I’m a beer short of six-pack.

But tell me if what these guys call tax reform isn’t a tax on services:

In the modern economy, the services industry is a primary engine. But most services in North Carolina are not subject to a sales tax.

The problem, reform advocates say, is that when a homeowner buys plumbing tools to fix a sink, he pays a sales tax on the tool. When he pays a repairman to fix the sink, no sales tax is paid.

As a result, North Carolina has one of the lowest sales-tax bases in the United States. It collects only 27 percent of potential revenue, Joines said.

Tom Ross, the executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, said after the meeting that tax reform should not be confused with tax increases. Changes should be revenue-neutral, he said.

Revenue collected from services, for example, could help offset other tax rates, such as the sales tax or state income tax.

“We need comprehensive reform,” he said.