State officials may say they’re not raising taxes but many of their budget-balancing maneuvers still will hit taxpayers in the pocketbook.

There’s more than one way to raise taxes. Kansas legislators and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius are pulling all sorts of budget maneuvers to avoid any discussion of tax increases this session.

House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, has the audacity to look at the current budget situation and say he sees “light at the end of the tunnel if we live within our means.” But the only way the state is managing to “live within its means” is to pass the buck to local governments and individual taxpayers.

In order to live within its means and avoid a tax increase, the state has canceled payments to local governments. How are city and county governments going to meet their financial obligations without that money and without raising taxes? Apparently that is of no concern to state officials because it won’t be a state tax increase.

This week, Douglas County officials approved a payment of $143,000 for out-district tuition to pay a portion of the educational costs for local students who attend community colleges in other counties. The Higher Education Coordination Act that united the state’s universities, community colleges and vocational-technical schools under the Kansas Board of Regents several years ago called for out-district tuition payments to end. The state can’t afford to lose that money if it plans to “live within its means” so counties are required to pay up.

Employees of school districts across the state will have to wait until July to receive their June paychecks so the state can show that its budget is balanced as of June 30, the end of the fiscal year. The state even has given school districts special permission to juggle their books and to dishonestly record checks written in July as part of June expenditures. Will the creditors or landlords of school district employees be as understanding if their bills are paid late? Those employees may have to pay late fees, but at least they won’t have to pay more taxes.

Another idea being proposed is to delay state income tax refunds. Again, people to whom refunds are due will lose the use of their money and any interest it might have earned while it lingers in the state treasury. The state may not call it a tax, but it’s costing individual taxpayers.

State officials simply aren’t being honest with Kansans when they say that all of these financial maneuvers will allow the state to avoid a tax increase and live within its means. What the state really is doing is shifting its financial responsibilities to someone else’s ledger and borrowing against its own future.