States from New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn say they have either delayed refunds or are considering doing so because of budget shortfalls.

“It’s an indicator of how bad it is,” says Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. “You know things are bad when you have to do that.”

New York, hit with a $9 billion deficit, may delay $500 million in refunds to keep the state from running out of cash, says Gov. David Paterson.

Hawaii’s Department of Taxation says some residents may not see state income tax refunds until the end of August, The Honolulu Advertiser reported. It was part of a plan by Gov. Linda Lingle to deal with a revenue drop-off by pushing costs into the next fiscal period, which begins in July.

States often do not have a timetable for refunds because delays are based on cash flow. Most states typically issue refunds within 30 days.

Delaying refund checks isn’t unprecedented, Pattison said, but it is something virtually no politician wants to do, because taxpayers are owed the money and in most cases want it fast. Delays in paying refunds and other state bills can trigger interest on those overdue payments, depending on state laws, he said.

California’s massive budget shortfall of more than $20 billion last year prompted it not only to delay tax refunds but to issue billions of dollars in IOUs to vendors and others who were owed money. State Controller John Chiang called the delayed payments a “shameful chapter in the State’s history” when the IOUs ended last September.

California still faces budget problems, but Chiang said that revenue is running ahead of projections so far this year, lessening the threat of a repeat.

“Californians should expect to receive their hard-earned tax refunds on time,” Chiang said.

The delays come as some states continue to face deep budget holes, even as economists say the nation as a whole has begun recovery. In a recent report, the budget officers group and the National Governors Association said state fiscal conditions “have continued to worsen,” and that state revenues can be expected to lag one to three years behind a national recovery from recession.

This fiscal year, the report said, 36 states have cut nearly $56 billion in spending, and 30 states have cut funding to public and higher education.

“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”

“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” – Gandhi

These are just two of the many lessons it appears that Joseph Stack, aged 53, never learned. For those unaware, Mr. Stack set fire to his family’s home and crashed a private plane into the IRS Austin branch during the workday, killing one other person, injuring 13, and two of the injured are in critical condition. While full details surrounding this incident are still unclear, the FBI believes that his suicide note is genuine. Accounts from Stack’s friends indicate his acts were completely unexpected.

If Stack’s note proves genuine, it is clear that this was not only premeditated murder but also an act of political terrorism, eerily similar to the hijacked airliners of 9/11. After reading his note, it is plainly obvious that this man was adversely affected and bitterly unsatisfied with the over-taxation practices of the IRS and Congress (a theme of the Taxed Enough Already, aka TEA party movement) and government-sponsored crony capitalism (a theme commonly associated by the media with the political left). In his note:

“It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country… I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change…

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less.

I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are.”

Truth is often a bitter pill, but the terrorists who died while murdering 2,973 civilians on 9/11 also had a similar goal; to create a “knee-jerk government reaction.” Congress and recent Presidents from both parties have bled our nation of the blood of our bravest by instigating the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, ruined our economy with bailouts and rampant unemployment, created “draconian restrictions” like the PATRIOT Act which stripped Americans of their civil liberties, enabling warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, revoking habeas corpus, and leading to the torture of defenseless captives. Congress foolishly rushed headlong into this trap of epic proportions, assisted by unwitting saps like my district’s Congressman Charlie Dent, who approved the banker bailouts, accelerated the deficit spending, reauthorized the PATRIOT Act, and voted to increase insane levels of military spending at every opportunity.

I condemn Stack’s cowardly act of murder and political terrorism. While one of my campaign’s planks is the abolition of the Marxian federal income tax and the IRS, the route I have taken – placing my engineering career on hold for 18 months to run for office – is peaceful and logical. As Gandhi taught, messengers for the truth are almost always best served by acting in a non-violent manner.

By erecting a prison in his own mind where Stack’s only recourse became violence and self-destruction, Stack has just created a way for Establishment shills to defame the liberty movement as hailing this terrorist as a “hero” as ABC’s Lee Ferran has done.

Where Stack murdered, many others, myself included, argue the moral case that the government simply should never have any claim whatsoever on the fruit of an individual’s labor.

Where Stack raged about a vague clause in the IRS code that plundered him, I have pointed out that not only is the federal income tax immoral, but fiscally it is completely UNNECESSARY.

Where Stack rants about the injustices of a hopelessly corrupt political process, I have calmly pointed out America’s greatest political secret – that a determined minority can ultimately destroy the ability of Republocrat apparatchiks to control which candidates are selected, especially in party primaries like the Republican party in Pennsylvania just did, which truly does make a mockery of the democratic voting process.

LOOK ACROSS THE LAND! Listen to your families and friends! Plenty of people grumble about politics and say they could do the job better, but many do not have the financial means, drive, or knowledge to mount legit challenges to the Republican and Democrat machines that are destroying our nation. This is despite the fact that nationwide the numbers of independents and third parties are LARGER THAN EITHER MAJOR PARTY.

When I made the decision to run as an independent under no political party in May 2009, I was fully aware of the challenges ahead. However, my race is certainly winnable – I am already at 8% in a January poll run by a Republocrat opponent, and the vast majority (about 92%) have not even heard the message yet.

Liberty may once again teeter on a knife’s edge in the months and years to come. Whether America eats the bitter, evil apple of socialism, and falls to war, poverty and endless debt for our children is a choice now left to US.

Americans need to hear the truth – a message of prosperity, liberty, love and peace. The Republocrats can only offer more lies, tyranny, hate and war. This choice is OURS. My choice is to rally at the breach, to defend freedom and restore the rule of law and our constitutional republic.

I have faith that the truth will prove sharper than any sword.

Jake Towne

“Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit.”
Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito.
Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.

What if the U.S. government released an “educational video” to teach today’s Americans how to be good citizens?

The lien was filed May 11 at the Los Angeles County recorder’s office for $79,064, according to a record in an electronic database that includes lien filings. The record does not indicate what property the lien was placed on, but it lists the debtor as Arnold Schwarzenegger with the governor’s home address in Brentwood.

Schwarzenegger’s spokesman, Aaron McLear, said in a statement that the “governor has paid his taxes in full and on time.”

“No one, including the IRS, has notified the governor of any issues whatsoever with his taxes,” McLear said. “We are contacting the IRS to determine if the document in question, which appears to be a penalty for missing info and not for unpaid taxes, is legitimate and if there is any discrepancy to resolve.”

L.A. Times

More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit.

Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.

The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was President Barack Obama’s signature tax break in the massive stimulus package enacted in February.

Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in April. The tax credit was made available through new withholding tables issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

The withholding tables, however do not take into account taxpayers with multiple jobs or married couples in which both people work. They also don’t take into account Social Security recipients with jobs that provided taxable income.

The Social Security Administration sent out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in the spring as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments were meant to provide a boost for people who didn’t’ qualify for the tax credit.

However, they went to many retirees who also received the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit—— but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.

“While implementing a credit through reduced withholding is an effective way to provide economic stimulus evenly throughout the year, it is difficult to account for everyone’s circumstances,” said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. “More than 10 percent of all taxpayers who file individual tax returns for 2009 could owe additional taxes.”

The tax credit is also available for 2010. Russell said the problems will continue in 2010 if they are not resolved.

The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more than $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.

“Making Work Pay was designed to deliver much needed boosts to the paychecks of 95 percent of all working Americans,” said Nayyera Haq, a Treasury Department spokeswoman. “Since enactment, more than 110 million families have benefited from as much as $60 in additional take home pay each month to put toward their family budgets, serving as a steady boost to spending and consumption.”

For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year. The average tax refund this year was about $2,800.

The IRS, in a response to the audit, advised taxpayers to check their withholding throughout the year to make sure they don’t get hit with an unexpected tax bill.

“The withholding system must approximate the tax liability of tens of millions of Americans, and therefore, cannot be tailored precisely to fit every individual situation,” Richard Byrd Jr., commissioner of the IRS’ wage and investments division, wrote in the agency’s response to the report.