Only in RI can Taxes go down but the amount withheld go up!

Lower taxes? Sounds good:

Rhode Island begins to put in place provisions of state tax legislation that...make the state tax system easier to understand and calculate, said Michael F. Canole, the Rhode Island Division of Taxation’s chief of examinations. “We’ve simplified our personal income tax,” he said.

The changes will also ultimately reduce overall state tax liability for many taxpayers. A report prepared by the Division of Taxation in September said that, as a result of the changes, 81 percent of Rhode Islanders “will either pay the same or less in personal income taxes going forward.”

But then again...

To implement those changes, state tax officials designed the withholding system for 2011 so that, for many workers, more state tax is withheld each pay period, not less.

The point is to give workers “a little cushion so that when they get to the end of the year, they [won’t] be in a situation where they’d owe money on their personal income tax,” said state Tax Administrator David M. Sullivan.

File under "Thanks Big Bro'!" Solution: Claim more exemptions than usual (if you still can, that is) and keep your money in your pocket to begin with. Thanks but no thanks, I prefer paying at the end instead of giving the State of RI a no interest loan for the year.