Repeating a situation that plagued the state’s taxpayers last year, officials with the North Carolina Department of Revenue have already announced that individuals filing their taxes can expect delays in receiving their refunds.
“Revenue Secretary Kenneth Lay told The Associated Press on Friday his agency is delaying refund checks for individuals and businesses. It's all part of the state's effort to manage cash while its tax collections remain anemic.” (“State says expect delays on tax refunds,” WRAL.com, 2/12/10)
Officials at the N.C. Department of Revenue have long known about slow tax collections and the effect on state fund balances. Yet, Governor (Beverly) Perdue and Secretary Lay have not taken effective steps so that taxpayers do not face unreasonable delays in receiving tax refunds from state government. Many of the taxpayers owed refunds are small businesses struggling to meet payrolls, and the delay in paying refunds may actually cause additional job losses in the private sector.
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham, above left) made the following statement:
“A second consecutive year of taxpayers facing unreasonable delays in receiving their refunds demonstrates two things about the Perdue Administration. The first is a continuation of the incompetence and mismanagement all too evident in the Easley administration. For too long, Democrats, in complete control of the legislature and the Governor’s office, have not been held accountable for their lack of competence in managing the state’s fiscal affairs.
“The second is a mindset that plagues Democrats in Raleigh and in Washington - that money collected, or over-collected, as tax revenue belongs to the government and not the taxpayer. But this is the taxpayers’ money, particularly that money to be refunded, and the only reason the government has it now is because they collected more than they should have. The money should be returned to taxpayers promptly.”
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