Vermont’s tax commissioner, Tom Pelham, is moving over to the job of deputy secretary of administration (Pelham will change roles, Times Argus, 07/02/09).

Okay, nothing strange there.

Pelham is apparently on the same page as Douglas in that tax increases can and should be pushed through, but don’t call these tax increases tax increases … either refer to them as “fees” or simply do it under cover of darkness.

In Pelham’s case it was the cover of darkness. A few years ago Pelham, as tax commissioner, decided to impose a massive (and I do mean massive … thousands of dollars a year in many if not most cases) tax increase on Vermont’s developmental home providers when he unilaterally re-interpreted state law on what was and was not taxable income.

The issue centered around room and board payments, and these payments to the home providers had always been considered and treated as being non-taxable income. Pelham didn’t like that, and not only did he do a 180 degree re-interpretation, but he also wanted it applied retro-actively.

(I actually argued in favor of the change but vehemently against the retro-active nature of the application.)

It took Vermont’s legislature to put into statute what they always meant (and how the law had always been interpreted until the Douglas/Pelham tax hike proposal). In the end, despite Pelham, the taxable nature of the room and board payments returned to where the legislature had originally intended them to be.

But that’s not the whole of today’s morning headache.

Buried in the above mentioned news article is this jem:

McIntire has also applied for an early retirement incentive made available to state workers in legislation this year. McIntire would be eligible for a retirement incentive if she won the lottery, through which 300 early retirement spots are chosen. Nearly 1,000 state workers could potentially qualify.

That’s right folks, the early retirement incentive put into this year’s budget with the intention of helping to clear out some of those jobs Douglas wanted to see done away with is being sought by somebody who is leaving a position that isn’t being done away with!

Ouch! Bringing a dead of night tax increaser closer to Douglas’ bosom, and seeing one of his well paid higher ups who’s position isn’t going away looking for an incentive meant to help cut the number of state employees … that’s a real headache.