Whatever the irregularities of the proposed business improvement district in downtown Lewiston, a ''forced mandatory tax'' to support it isn't one of them.

All taxes are forced and mandatory. There is no such thing as a voluntary tax. A voluntary tax is called a contribution.

And the fact is, unified improvements in a neighborhood are going to be unfair if funded by voluntary means because that doesn't require everyone to pay his dues. Voluntary improvements in a neighborhood frequently fall short on funding so they don't always get the job done. And they tend to stick the most generous people with disproportionate shares of the cost, penalizing them for their community spirit.

Opponents of the business improvement district fostered by the Port City Action Committee may or may not have a point on the validity of the projects the improvement district would buy. Maybe this is an extravagance and unnecessarry. That is worth discussing.

But the method of paying for a neighborhood improvement taxes is hardly a radical departure from the norm in the way this country does things.

If there is a flaw in business improvement districts and other local improvement districts, it is in their narrowness. We all use the streets and sidewalks that these projects fund. We will all benefit directly or indirectly from the improvement of any of the c

ommunity's neighborhoods or business districts just as deteriorating neighborhoods add to the general blight.

These projects should be paid by general taxation throughout the city, just like the fire department

.

But if that change in methodology ever takes place and the day finally arrives when the community of the whole rather than narrow neighborhoods take on these projects, then the tax to pay for them will still be forced and mandatory.

And rightly so. Why should some citizens carry the load while others ride for free? B.H.