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| Home Front: Politix |
| First California, Now Kansas, Stiffs Citizenry on Refunds |
| 2009-02-17 |
| Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, state officials said Monday. The state doesn't have enough money in its main budget account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest borrowing $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and Republican leaders refused Monday. Budget Director Duane Goossen said that without the money, he's not sure the state can meet its payroll. About 42,000 state employees are scheduled to be paid again Friday. He added that the state might also have to delay payments to public schools and to doctors who provide care to needy Kansas residents under the Medicaid program. Ah, yes, the old "give us what we wants, or yer kids gets it! maneuver." Goossen said the state stopped processing income tax refunds last week. Hmm. I wonder if they would let the good people of Kansas stop filing their state returns until they get back to work on this? Yeah, I didn't think so, either. Sebelius accused Republicans, who hold majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, of blocking the accounting maneuver to "play political games." Republican leaders said it's illegal under Kansas law to shift the funds around as long as the state continues to face a projected deficit in the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30. GOP leaders are hoping to pressure Sebelius into signing a bill making $326 million in adjustments to the budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30. Almost half of the adjustments are spending cuts. Legislators approved that bill last week, but it has not reached the governor's desk. Sebelius hasn't said whether she will sign it. |
| Posted by:Cornsilk Blondie |
| #6 California, Kansas, and next the Federal Government? At some point someone is going to have to get serious about working us out of this financial hole--either to stop digging or to come up with a realistic plan to create jobs for people. We have outsourced jobs to other countries for several decades now. We have not addressed the illegal alien problem. We have lost large chunks of our manufacturing base. We have made bad trade decisions. We have lost our ability to provide our own energy--other than by buying from someone else such as OPEC nations. We have strangled ourselves with regulations. We have a government that is not responsive to the people and is out of control. We have politicians that promise everything and deliver little in order to get elected or re-elected. Our financial institutions are in a disarray. Greed and power have driven our country to the brink of collapse. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a better outlook after a drink and a good night's sleep. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-02-17 21:19 |
| #5 Procopius, You can guess how that will work - your tax refund credits will not be usable for paying your taxes; your taxes must be paid with real money. Or eventually, toilet paper, whichever is worth more (see Zimbucks for example.) |
| Posted by: Eohippus Shaviper7110 2009-02-17 12:42 |
| #4 If you choose the option to roll over your refunds to the next tax year for credit and keep that up till it matches most of what's due, what's the state going to do when they get their own IOUs for a fiscal year? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-02-17 11:12 |
| #3 Please read the NRO article posted in non - wot for more information about what is going on. Synopsis: Republicans want to cut spending across the board. Sebelius wants to keep spending on her pet programs. Her governess better take that Obama job, because she is going to lose this publicity stunt. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-02-17 11:00 |
| #2 IOU's won't buy beans and rice. The citizenry will soon be "Stiffing" state revenue coffers with added withholding excemptions. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-02-17 10:30 |
| #1 Playing political games? So that's what it's called when lawmakers follow the laws that they themselves passed? What happened three months ago, when they had plenty of time to comply with the law? |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-02-17 10:02 |