If New Jersey ever is to change its tax system, which for decades has sat like an enormous dead weight on the property owners and the economy of the state, its best chance is through a constitutional convention that would bypass the politically paralyzed State house and place a comprehensive reform plan directly before the people for their consideration.

A vital first step down that road was taken last week when Gov. James E. McGreevey and legislative leaders appointed a 15-member task force that will recommend the ground rules for a convention which, with the voters' approval, would be held in 2006.

Their appointees, by and large, have a working knowledge of the problems that flow from an unbalanced tax system in which the property tax finances 42 percent of government, compared to a national average of 29 percent, and are committed to finding a solution. They include Mayor Jo-Anne B. Schubert of South Bound Brook, president of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities; Mayor Gary Passanante of Somerdale, chairman of the League's Property Tax Committee; Montclair State University President Susan Cole, who also is director of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce; Ernest Reock, former director of the Rutgers University Center for Government Services; Cy Thannikary of Upper Freehold, chairman of the non-partisan Citizens for Property Tax Reform; State Sen. John Adler, D-Cherry Hill, a co-sponsor with former Sen. Bill Schluter of the original legislation calling for a constitutional convention ; Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, D-Bellmawr, another long-time tax convention advocate; and Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, R-Flemington, who wants a convention that would examine spending as well as tax policies.

The chair and co-chair, also highly qualified individuals, are Carl Van Horn, a Rutgers professor and expert on labor issues, and Michael R. Cole, a lawyer who advised former Gov. Thomas Kean on property tax issues. Professor Van Horn said the task force, which must report to the Legislature and Governor by Dec. 31, will hold a series of hearings and meetings - open, as they should be, to the public - beginning early next month.

Before this work begins, however, we would urge the chairman to carefully re-read the language of the law creating his panel. When he was introduced by Gov. McGreevey Friday, Professor Van Horn had this to say: "The first question the task force needs to address is should there be a constitutional convention. I'm open-minded. I don't know if there should be or not. We've had plenty of instances where the constitution has been amended without a convention." In fact, the law creating the task force, signed by Gov. McGreevey July 6, doesn't leave open the "whether" question. It assigns the panel these duties:

Considering and developing recommendations regarding the process of conducting a constitutional convention designed to change the existing property tax system. Such recommendations shall include, but not be limited to, the commended method for the selection of delegates to the convention, the appropriate scope of the convention's inquiry and the method for consideration of the convention's recommendations, and shall identify the specific issues or questions that the convention should consider as well as the estimated costs of the convention.

As former Sen. Schluter wrote in a letter to The Times July 9: "In passing this bill [A-97], the Legislature and governor finally recognize that the debate over whether to hold a convention is over." We agree; it now will be the task force's job to recommend the convention's scope, content, structure and process. New Jersey's future will be profoundly affected by how well it does its work.