For several weeks, local political junkies have been consumed with debating the merits of (and divining ulterior motives behind) a couple of Concord gatherings.

The first was a long-planned two-day tax seminar held by the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee. It was designed to be an overview for House members of the range of taxes and fees - after all, that committee is concerned with income, not spending - that are available to states. Although pilloried by anti-tax activists (not to mention assorted hysterical bloggers and that reactionary newspaper to the south of us) as a thinly veiled attempt to ram through an income tax in New Hampshire, the seminar included so many varying economists and opinionators that one could argue it ended up being predominantly anti-income tax.

No matter. Dissident GOP lawmakers felt compelled to follow that up by staging their own dog and pony show called - gee, could this be at all political? - the Stop the Spending forum. At it, a lot of like-minded people said that the state's problem was excessive spending and proposed lots of cuts. My personal favorite was insisting the state stop planting lilac bushes.

And so the "discussion" ended up where it always does. Everybody talked past everyone else, and the usual battle flags were unfurled by one side and promptly vigorously trampled by the other. The phrase "New Hampshire Advantage" was, as always, heard from all sides.

Yet - particularly since Democrats may now have the keys to the broad-based tax kingdom but don't want to use them - we will still have for the foreseeable future a tax structure based on an l8th-century agrarian model that has no relationship to the 21st-century economy. It leaves the state in a perpetual scramble to figure out how to fund essential government, dependent on a host of preposterous small or narrowly defined taxes that gouge some and leave others virtually untaxed. Plus, towns will continue to have to raise property taxes to confiscatory levels just to pay for basic services.

And most of us will throw up our hands, resign ourselves to political gridlock without any real dialogue in sight, and focus on the World Series, hoping for the defeat of the hated Yankees.

While we watch, we can ponder one truly excellent idea from that tax seminar to help us avoid the specter of a Dreaded Broad Base Tax. No, not the suggestion from one of the speakers that we strive to become the Walmart of states. I don't even know what that means. Should Gov. John Lynch and his department heads become greeters, stationing themselves at toll booths, welcoming folks to the Granite State? Doesn't work for me. I see us as more as Neiman Marcus, but with mountains and without that tacky Texas stuff.

It's the other idea that intrigues me: that New Hampshire should strive to be the Switzerland of the Northeast. Now I'm not sure what that means, either, but it sounds downright exotic, at least to the extent that anything from the colder European climes can sound exotic. Just think for a few minutes about Switzerland. The Swiss tunnel through mountains. Is that great, or what? They make excellent watches. Their chocolate is pretty good. Everyone - well, every man - is

expected to be a member of the national militia. Presumably the women play important supporting roles, perhaps starching and ironing the uniforms. God forbid the Swiss should tolerate wrinkled wardrobes. And Swiss women should rejoice. At least they're now - since 1991 - allowed to vote in all of Switzerland!

What's not to like - or emulate? Better yet, the Swiss are resolutely neutral. So if Massachusetts decides to invade and reclaim Maine, we could just jack up the rates at the

Interstate 95 Hampton toll booths and set up extra checkout lines at the turnpike liquor store while the Bay State army passes through.

Best of all, though, Switzerland has made itself essential to the world's wealthiest (and most dishonest) people by helping them evade taxes. Talk about a ploy that's in the best New Hampshire tradition. Cheap booze and cigarettes, lottery tickets, tax-free shopping - we are pioneers! And already we have a start on enabling tax cheats, at least until they get caught. Just ask Dennis Kozlowski, the erstwhile head of Tyco now doing hard time for shipping expensive artworks to New Hampshire to avoid New York City sales taxes.

Venezuela? Somalia?

You don't like Switzerland as a role model? Well, how about Venezuela? Oh, right, we have no oil. Well, what natural asset can we exploit for fame and a wad of cash?

How about our prime ocean frontage? Granted, there's less than we had before the late Gov. Meldrim Thomson thought it would be a splendid idea to take up a significant chunk of our already tiny 18-mile coastline with a nuclear plant. One that would ultimately cause the bankruptcy of the state's pre-eminent power company, costing ratepayers and taxpayers alike a bundle. Which is another story for another day.

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