Martin: It's a tax increase.

Q: Is it a tax increase?

Coppinger: It is to some.

That was a tweet by the Times Free Press' Paul Leach, reporting from Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger's it's-a-tax-increase-but-let's-not-call-it-that announcement this week.

On Tuesday, surrounded by Hamilton County elected officials, educators and business folks, Coppinger unveiled his proposal to leave the property tax millage rate at its current $2.7652 level.

For those still wondering, the millage rate is the amount per $100 of your property's taxable value, and that rate is used to calculate what you pay in taxes on that property.

Casual observers might wonder then, "if he wants to leave the rate where it is, how is that a tax increase?"

David Martin

Fair question.

It's a tax increase in that most property values across Hamilton County recently ballooned thanks to fresh reappraisals. As those property values increased, tax bills will grow correspondingly. To counter the increases, a popular idea has been to decrease the county's millage rate to $2.4976 to keep tax bills where they've been.

If Coppinger has his way, though, the millage rate will remain in place.

And how does that translate to Hamilton County taxpayers? It means that, on average, residents will experience a 9 percent property tax jump.

Proponents will tell you that this not-a-tax-increase is necessary.

According to Coppinger, under this plan taxpayers will contribute an additional $25.5 million annually to county coffers. That's a lot of loot to spread among economic development, public safety, infrastructure projects - including a new sewage treatment plant - and the Department of Education.

For new schools Superintendent, Bryan Johnson, it's one heck of a welcome present. While it falls short of meeting all of the needs listed by the school system, Coppinger's $100 million pledge to central office will underwrite new schools while also updating many buildings and athletic facilities.

You can almost hear the chorus of hallelujahs from over on Bonny Oaks.

But even with all the celebration, there's no sense in referring to the mechanism responsible for funneling millions of dollars from taxpayer wallets into public projects as anything other than what it is.

I'll admit that when I saw Leach's tweet on Tuesday, I took to Twitter (because that's what mature adults do) to argue my case that if what you owe in taxes goes up, then it's a tax increase. Period.

A friend of mine (who's equally mature) retorted, "I hate that my taxes go up when I spend more money at the store." He subscribes to the notion - as does Commissioner Joe Graham - that so long as rates stay the same, then it can't be called a tax increase.

My friend is wrong, of course. His analogy is also steaming garbage.

A more accurate scenario would be as follows: Once I've bought a candy bar, a store clerk chases me to my car, where I'm told that after I spent $1 on my delectable Snickers, they raised its value to $2 and they now need me to fork over another dime's worth of taxes to make up for the post-purchase difference.

"Don't worry, sir," they'd tell me. "Our tax rate hasn't gone up. We just need another dime for taxes."

Right-o.

Coppinger's plan isn't a done deal just yet. A conservative-leaning County Commission must approve it first. Which means we'll probably be hearing a lot more about millage rates - aka tax rates - staying the same, instead of our actual tax bills growing.

The merits and demerits of Coppinger's budget fix will be argued in the coming days. But first things first. Let's call it what it really is.

It's a tax increase.

Contact David Allen Martin at davidallenmartin423@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @DMart423.