| Comptroller Hynes processes more than $1
billion in obligations to vendors and taxpayers (SPRINGFIELD) --
Comptroller Daniel W. Hynes’ office Wednesday began mailing out tens of
thousands of overdue individual income tax refunds to taxpayers, thanks to
a plan he crafted that sped up the payment process by more than two
months.
"Citizens can’t tell the government to wait to collect taxes, so
it’s only fair that people who pay their taxes on time should get them
refunded on time," said Hynes. "I’m proud to say that my
office is working diligently to get refund checks into the hands of the
people who are entitled to them."
Hynes’ office has spent the last week making the necessary
preparations to quickly process individual income tax refunds to nearly
783,000 individual taxpayers. The majority of those taxpayers were
individuals who filed their returns by paper in the week prior to April
15.
On Tuesday, the state received $1 billion in funds obtained through
short-term borrowing. Of that amount, $150 million was immediately paid
into the Income Tax Refund fund. The Comptroller’s office then began
processing payments to approximately 239,000 individual taxpayers,
totaling more than $104 million. This is in addition to 350,000 individual
income refunds paid in the past week.
Without Hynes’ plan to transfer the $150 million into the Income Tax
Refund fund, the Department of Revenue estimated that funds would not have
become available to pay the individual taxpayers who filed by paper until
October. The expedited payments will also avert late payment penalties of
more than $2 million.
The early depletion of the Income Tax Refund fund was caused by higher
than anticipated individual income tax refunds, which resulted from the
increased earned income and education tax credits, as well as the doubling
of the personal exemption. Electronic tax filers were paid quickly, but
those who filed by paper have seen their refunds delayed.
Aside from sending out individual income tax refunds, Hynes’ office
had a record processing day Tuesday, paying out 46,927 bills, which
totaled nearly $934 million. Of that amount, $810 million came out of the
General Revenue Fund, accounting for the greatest amount of GRF money
spent in one processing day in the history of Illinois. (The greatest
amount of General Revenue Fund obligations paid prior to July 23, was $687
million during FY 94.) Accounting for individual income tax refunds and
GRF obligations, Hynes’ office paid more than $1 billion in obligations
Tuesday night.
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