LA Times: Delay of tax refunds and payments adds to Californians' struggles

[marmar]

Delay of tax refunds and payments adds to Californians' struggles
By Patrick McGreevy and Jordan Rau

February 1, 2009


Reporting from Sacramento -- Wendy Hansen, a 52-year-old single mom in Monrovia, says she cannot afford a delay in her anticipated state income tax refund of $1,800.

Without the check, Hansen said, she will have to put off debt payments, long-needed repairs on her house and treatment for a back problem that she believes has been aggravated by stress over finances.

Cash crunch California is told to furlough employeesAn estimated 2.7 million Californians expecting income tax refunds this month won't receive them for now, because the state's prolonged budget impasse has emptied its treasury.

"It's horrendous," said Hansen, an office manager for a doctors' office. "I'm someone who counts on that refund every year to make ends meet."

State Controller John Chiang's decision to conserve cash by withholding nearly $2 billion in tax refunds, among other scheduled payments, starting today means thousands of people and businesses that rely on state money will not be paid as usual. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget-suspend1-2009feb01,0,3066530.story

[Uben]

1. Just wondering

Will this prompt more people not to pay their taxes if the government does not repay their overpayment from last year? If the government can't get their business in order, what grounds do they have to punish tax-payers who do not send in payments? Looks like the gropenator is another miserable republican failure.