Whose Taxes Will Change How

This Neil Downing article points to an egregious error in the waning year of Governor Carcieri's time in office (emphasis added):

... the amount of Rhode Island income tax withheld from your pay will change because of massive changes to the state income tax law enacted in June. Employers will have to withhold more in tax for some workers, less in tax for others. ...

... the new law lowers the top tax rate to 5.99 percent from 9.9 percent, increases the standard deduction amounts for most taxpayers and eliminates the option to itemize deductions.

As I've explained, before, the central act of the new law was to freeze the flat tax where it already was. Folks who pay attention only a little bit may be lured by the elimination of that 9.9% red mark, but those who take the time to understand the upshot (especially those affected by the change) should realize that what was actually eliminated was a pending decrease in their tax burden.

The second act of the law was to transfer wealth from folks who do those economically active things that create deductions — such as buying local property and spending money on careers and businesses. Downing reports that the changes in paycheck withholding will be "slight," but what's "slight" on an individual basis is massive in aggregate.

Downing also explains the coming increase in TDI taxes and federal withholding amounts. Layer in there the tax increase if U.S. House Democrats foil the tax-cut extensions. Our state and nation could wake up in January 2011 with one pounding hangover.