Related: The California "Crisis"
"Some states without budgets as key deadline comes and goes; Begin fiscal year as recession takes a devastating toll" by Judy Lin, Associated Press | July 2, 2009
SACRAMENTO - In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency and ordered state offices closed three days a month to save money as the state sank deeper into dysfunction. State officials plan to pay bills with IOUs starting today....
Can I DO THAT?
Also see: Big Banks Don't Want California's IOUs
In most states, the debate centers on whether states should be raising taxes to bridge the budget gaps.... The recession has taken a big toll on tax revenues and state finances. States had a cumulative $121 billion budget gap in crafting this year’s budgets - and the gap would be even bigger without federal stimulus money, said Todd Haggerty, a research analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures, or NCSL....
"So, no real stimulus, just the bill for one." -- Wake the Flock Up
Businesses that provide services to the state, taxpayers owed refunds, and college students who get state help would be given IOUs....
But it is THEIR MONEY! They are ONLY LETTING the STATE USE IT!
See why I am SO ANTI-TAX now?!!!!
Because the STATE is nothing but a bunch of LOOTERS!!!!!!
Pennsylvania will delay payments to vendors after a partisan stalemate over the deficit stalled approval of the state budget. Governor Ed Rendell yesterday stood behind his call for a 16 percent income tax hike, saying the budget could not be balanced without it.
What an ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FLASHBACK:
"Governor Ed Rendell said in ordering a hiring freeze last September, “In the current uncertain economic climate, we must be especially prudent stewards of Pennsylvania’s resources.’’ Since then, Pennsylvania has brought in more than 1,000 new employees, including a fiscal director making $128,000, a press secretary earning $84,000, and seven clerk typists at salaries from $24,000 to $28,000.... --more--"
Yeah, he's a hypocritical, corrupt-as-you-can-be Clintonite!
Meanwhile, state workers will receive only partial pay on July 17 and July 24, and after that paychecks will be withheld entirely until the impasse is solved. Workers will be paid retroactively.
He's a real piece of work, isn't he?
Rendell said 10 banks and credit unions have agreed to help 69,000 state employees by offering them low- or no-interest loans and lines of credit....
F*** the BANKS and their DEBT-INDUCING LOANS!!!!
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And as California goes, so goes the nation....
"Cash-strapped states delay sending out millions in tax refunds" by Greg Bluestein, Associated Press | July 4, 2009
ATLANTA - Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he’d get his refund sooner. He was wrong.
It took the 44-year-old entrepreneur more than six months to get his $1,300 check - money that he needed to pay living expenses. Tax day - April 15 - has long since come and gone, but sharp budget cuts and falling revenues have forced many states to delay income tax refunds for months - and left taxpayers longing for their money.
But it is YOUR MONEY!! You are LETTING them BORROW IT!
“I’m just trying to get my money back,’’ said a frustrated Daymude. “It’s my money anyways.’’
Some states say plummeting tax collections drove them to hold on to the money so they can make ends meet.
Un-FUCKING-real!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Others complain of not being able to keep up because the economic downturn has forced staffing cuts in revenue departments.
Oh, but they can HIRE to GET MONEY POUT OF YOU, huh?
"Ohio’s hires during the freeze included 39 tax collectors."
The IRONY, 'eh?
USING YOUR TAX DOLLARS to GET MORE TAXES OUT of YOU!!
Sigh; Amurkns REALLY ARE 'TUCKING TOO-PID!!!!!
That goes fer YOU, too, Massachushitts!
But critics worry governments are withholding funds that rightly belong to taxpayers when they need the extra cash the most.
That's because THEY THINK it is THEIR MONEY!!!
And some of the tardy states are fast approaching a stiff deadline of their own: The longer they wait, the more likely they’ll have to pony up interest from thinning state coffers.
Which will COST TAXPAYERS MORE!!
And YOU GUYS WONDER why we are ANGRY?!!!!
That prospect could soon become a reality in Georgia and Alabama, where tax officials are racing to beat a mid-July deadline to send hundreds of thousands of tax refunds or risk racking up millions of dollars in interest.
“I know some of the taxpayers are wondering if the state is going to pay the refund,’’ said Carla Snellgrove of the Department of Revenue in Alabama, where more than 120,000 taxpayers are waiting for at least $63 million....
State government to citizens: (gesture)
State tax officials say it’s not an issue of money, but an issue of staffing. Georgia Revenue Commissioner Bart Graham said the department had to cut about 280 jobs since October, including more than 150 processors who helped file refunds. The funding problems have become familiar in cash-squeezed states.
I'm OFFENDED.
California, which faces a deficit that could top $24.3 billion, may have to issue about $3 billion worth of promissory notes this month to state contractors, college students, and taxpayers owed refunds unless there is a budget-balancing agreement....
Even though they are SITTING ON all sorts of dough, huh?
Missouri used $250 million of federal economic stimulus money to pay hundreds of thousands of refunds.
So TAXPAYERS REFUNDED THEMSELVES, 'eh?
Is it WORTH the INTEREST PAYMENTS?
Maryland dipped into a $366 million reserve account that many lawmakers didn’t even know existed....
(Blog editor stunned)
Related:
Pigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
How many times I gotta put 'em up?
Meanwhile, analysts say the delays essentially rob the poor of what had become an extra paycheck.
That is what GOVERNMENT does best!!!!
ROBS from the POOR and GIVES to the RICH!!!
“Low-income families rely on that money getting reimbursed to them in the spring,’’ said Mike Herald, a lobbyist for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, a Los Angeles-based advocacy group. “They pay bills with that money, they buy furniture - a lot of people rely on that income.’’
Of course, this is the SAME STATE that is LOOKING OUT for YOU, readers!!!
Pffft!
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