Here’s one practical way to help retailers battered by online competition

So there’s something entirely right about legislation that proposes to take a small portion (5 percent) of the state tax collected on certain online sales and dedicate it to a Downtown Vitality Fund that in turn would support grants to cultural districts, main street associations, and business improvement districts, especially in Gateway Cities and low-income communities.

Massachusetts talks a good game about renewing and restoring the vitality of downtown districts, but Main Streets continue to erode, to fall victim to the allure of those online bargains.

Cyber Monday is on the horizon — a day when productivity at the office (especially the home office) slumps, while brick-and-mortar retailers grit their teeth and wonder how many dollars they’ll lose to online competitors this year.

“It’s really all about how we value place and community in New England, and I think we do,” Ben Forman, research director at MassInc, told the editorial board. “There are so many Main Streets that would benefit from this.”

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It’s not aimed at Downtown Boston or Back Bay or Kendall Square, he added, but “neighborhoods like Mattapan could benefit and places like North Adams.”

According to the latest survey of its members by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, it’s not looking to be a blockbuster year for holiday sales this year. The holiday is critical for retailers, who make about 20 percent of their annual revenue during those few weeks. But this season, retailers are predicting only a 1 percent increase in holiday sales.

Getting those customers back “takes resources,” said Representative Antonio Cabral of New Bedford, chief House sponsor of the bill. “Right now it’s very difficult for business improvement districts or cultural districts or small businesses to bring folks together.” Most are volunteer organizations and “they don’t have the in-house expertise to move their agendas forward.”

The program outlined in Cabral’s bill would be administered by the Executive Office of Economic Development in conjunction with a 15-member unpaid advisory board. And it would prioritize “entrepreneurship opportunities among underrepresented communities” and projects that “strengthen cultural identity and prevent cultural displacement.”

Pandemic-era funds helped a good many people of color who wanted to start their own businesses gain access to capital and start successful ventures, Forman said, adding, “We want to make sure these businesses are able to continue to thrive.”

And that requires funding for technical assistance or small infrastructure improvements that make street-level retail opportunities more attractive — a bench here, a banner hung from a street lamp there.

The proposal has also gained a good deal of traction among cultural organizations, led by the umbrella group MASSCreative. No surprise there, according to Forman, “We’ve had cultural districts for more than a decade but without any designated source of funding.”

From the Beverly Arts District to Boston’s Little Saigon to the Fall River Waterfront Cultural District and dozens in between, all could qualify for funding under this new grant program.

The arts — theater, museums, galleries — also bring people to downtowns. Cabral points to New Bedford’s monthly Aha! Nights (it stands for art, history, architecture) that give people a reason just to stroll around, pop into shops or galleries, and grab a bite to eat.

“It would be nice to be able to do that kind of thing more often,” Cabral said. “And to make nice walkable spaces” not just in New Bedford but all around the state, including its more rural areas.

Now the big mystery remains what that pool of money would look like, and here Cabral says he is open to making adjustments in the bill.

The state, which began collecting taxes from nearly all online sales in 2019 , still — for whatever reason — does not break out that number from other retail sales as other states do. That would have to change in order for the state to determine how much of the $9.4 billion collected last year in sales tax revenue comes from online sales.

The national figures for e-commerce put the figure at 15.4 percent of retail sales — up substantially over the past decade but especially following a 2018 US Supreme Court decision clearing the way for states to get a bigger piece of the sales tax action.

Based on those figures, the Downtown Vitality Fund could be entitled to somewhere in the neighborhood of $72 million a year.

Testifying before a recent legislative hearing on the bill, Catherine Feerick, economic development director for Attleboro, called the fund an “elegant” solution.

“You’re taking a source that has, for the last several decades, really detracted from our downtowns and our Main Streets, and you’re using a source of funding coming from that detrimental impact and you’re using it to try to heal some of the wounds.”

There is no turning back the clock. The Amazon delivery truck is here to stay. But that shouldn’t mean the demise of walkable downtowns, engaging Main Streets filled with life and arts, and the kind of charm that can’t be packaged in a cardboard box. Preserving that is worth the effort — and this modest investment.

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us .