Retailers and business leaders have spent several fruitless years lobbying Idaho to pursue sales taxes on Internet purchases.

Main Street retailers see it as a 6 percent cost disadvantage that never goes away — a competitive edge ceded to the dot-com giants, with the full cooperation of the no-new-tax ideologues on the House Revenue and Taxation Committee.

The retailers won an important ally Monday, when Gov. Butch Otter told Idaho chambers of commerce that he would support an Internet tax.

He’s on the right side of the issue. But not exactly in the middle of the fray.

Otter is serving his sixth year as governor. There’s a big difference between voicing support for an Internet sales tax and actually fighting for it. The idea wasn’t part of Otter’s State of the State address, and isn’t one of his priorities for 2012. As far as tax overhaul goes, all Otter has done is budget $45 million in tax relief for 2012-13, leaving it to legislators to sort out and write up the details.

Given Revenue and Taxation’s track record, don’t count on this committee to take up Internet taxes simply because Otter has given the idea a nudge. This is one of those areas where Revenue and Taxation revels in its unique legislative role: the place where all tax bills start, and where many tax bills meet a quick demise.

Two dozen states have joined a compact to streamline sales taxes, a precursor to collecting Internet sales taxes. Idaho is a long way away from joining them. Otter’s support of an Internet sales tax is a small step in the direction of fairness.