Governor playing semantics with taxes

COLUMBUS — That whole tax freeze dealio that Gov. Ted Strickland announced last week, the one that’s going to fill a nearly $1 billion hole in the state’s school funding budget if the Legislature approves ...

Just so you know, it’s not a tax increase. The governor and the state tax commissioner said so. Seriously. And stop laughing.

Raising the sales tax a half a penny, now that’s a tax hike. Because people would have to pay a little bit extra when they’re buying stuff — and that’s real money out of their real pocketbooks.

Not a tax hike?

But freezing an already-implemented income tax cut, that’s not a tax increase. As Tax Commissioner Richard Levin put it, “Rather than having the 2009 rate fall, as in current law, legislation would be introduced to freeze the rates ... to the same rates as 2008.”

Did you get that? There’s no tax increase. Just pretend that the rate decrease that took effect back on Jan. 1 didn’t actually take effect.

And it doesn’t matter that employers have been withholding the tax at the lower rate from their workers’ paychecks since January. That money has never been in the pockets or bank accounts of most Ohioans, so it’s not really theirs to begin with.

Besides, the majority of taxpayers have way more withheld from their paychecks then they have to, indicating they don’t really want or need the money. They want the state to have it. They’re not going to bat an eye if their refund checks come in 10 or 20 or 400 bucks lower than they expected. It’s a pittance in this time of unprecedented economic prosperity.

Yeah, there might be a few who end up owing the state a little more as a result, but probably not many. Only those who are earning more than they did in 2008. And we all know how absurd that notion is — heck, considering all of the people who have lost jobs or taken pay cuts, it’s more likely that 2009 tax bills are going to be way lower, with or without that planned tax cut.

The governor’s tax hike ... er ... freeze would generate about $844 million to cover the budget shortfall.

“Of course some will try to score political points by branding this delay as a tax increase,” Strickland said. “But again, tax rates are staying the same as last year.”

So quit complaining. And trust me on this one. This rate freeze thingamajig, it’s not a tax hike.

Seriously. And stop laughing.

X Marc Kovac is The Vindicator’s Statehouse correspondent. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com.