Yes, it seems a pretty boneheaded error that someone at the State Tax Commission effectively forgot to fill out Form TC-40A - Credit for Income Tax Paid to Another State - in estimating the fiscal impact of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s income tax proposal, thus underestimating the reduction in revenues supporting education by some $35 million. When the total expected impact had been $70 million, that's a significant difference.

But, by providing the spanner in the works that means the governor's “flatter” tax scheme won't be the subject of a planned mid-May special session of the Legislature, this goof may turn out to have been a lucky break.

Huntsman wisely decided that, rather than take the advice of some lawmakers and just ram the whole raggedy thing through a special session, he will refer the matter back to the 2007 general session. That will give lawmakers a chance to not only double-check the forms and triple-check the addition, but also to consider, perhaps for the first time, the assumptions behind the plan.

The out-of-state tax credit is something that is relatively tangible, and thus its mistaken omission is easily fixed. Just add it back in. But other factors require some more serious consideration. Top among them is the governor's rosy scenario expecting revenues to grow even as tax rates are cut, a by-product of the new interest business will take in Utah once it can advertise a top income tax rate that is a hair south of 5 percent rather than the current 7 percent.

The governor sees the need for more money to handle the expected ballooning of Utah's school-age population. But his expectation that changes to our tax code will overcome global economic factors and reliably stimulate economic activity in Utah strikes us as beyond optimistic.

If he's off, the Legislature will have to take back the income tax cut, hike other taxes or finance schools at levels below even the current inadequate amounts.

The Legislature shouldn't sign this tax return without reading it a lot more carefully.