The Insufferable State Tax Refund
The ears are shut in the capital
Before I begin, I must note that I personally received my North Carolina State refund after about 5 weeks by in March. My parents though are a different story.
They submitted their tax returns back in mid to late February… Almost eight weeks later, and all the North Carolina Department of Revenue can say is that it has been received and is in process. When they contact a real person, they send them to the website, which gives them the same answer they get on the phone.
All year long we pay taxes. Most of us allow the government to hold on to more than their fair share, since having the IRS wanting to collect in April makes no one happy. When the IRS is due, they can make your life a living hell by garnishing your wages, levying tax liens, putting you behind bars. Who wants that?
But who can we turn to when the IRS owes us money? Apparently no one, unless you can afford a very good lawyer, and in the middle of this recession, half the lawyers I’ve ever met couldn’t even afford to hire themselves. We try to make a lot of noise, but inside Raleigh, no one is listening. They are too busy trying to slice up budgets, force teachers out of schools, redirecting lottery funds from education to the general budget. Bev Perdue promised change in the state seat. Guess what, we got it. Things have changed for the worse. At least I can say I didn’t vote for her.
Some may argue that there shouldn’t be a huge rush for the refunds to come through. Some people may be able to swing it waiting longer. I didn’t sweat 5 weeks, I was employed and could go by a while without it. But what about my parents. My dad’s retired, living off his retirement and social security, and is unable to work. He spent 30 years in protection of this county, and upholding the laws of this state. My mom is a bus driver, who is scared to even note down her overtime with the lay-off slicing all around her. And with the prospect of no summer-school, this will be the first summer in years she will have to find some way of earning money for those 3 months. After many good years, now they can barely afford to even get by.
So how did honest, hard-working American’s, who had nothing to do with causing the recession or the budget deficit, get shafted. All they are doing is asking for their hard-earned money to be returned to them in a timely manner, so that they too can afford to pay their bills. Yet the state can’t even give them a straight answer as to why they haven’t received it.
If the tables were turned, the IRS would already be assessing interest and penalties, along with garnishing wages. Why can’t we get a two way street here. Maybe we can send them a bill every month, for the total amount of 1% interest and additional penalties? Like that would happen.
