http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D997417O0&show_article=1California, 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.
Smaller states have also had trouble. Freda Warfield of the Kansas Department of Revenue said tax officials are hoping to send out $31 million in refunds by next week—but she knows residents are getting anxious. The returns average $500 a person.
"The revenue receipts have just been down," she said. "There's not enough coming in to issue all of our refunds. Tough decisions needed to be made, and one of the things that we could do is to hold our refunds."
It quickly became a touchy subject there, where thousands of people still haven't gotten refunds. Republican state Sen. Jeff Colyer said he raised the alarm that the state may not be able to make the payments back in August.
"It's unfair to taxpayers," said Colyer, a surgeon from Overland Park. "It's creating a cash-flow concern for these people. They rely on tax refunds for a big purchase, or to make a house payment. People have already budgeted how that money will be spent."
On the first underlined portion: Ummm...no, holding onto your citizens' refunds is NOT one of the things you could do. Well, not legally anyway. Being short on money is not the fault of those to whom you owe money.
On the second underlined portion: It's more than unfair...it's illegal...if processing is taking more time due to staffing problems, that would be unfair...not paying your taxpayers what you OWE them is illegal if you choose to not pay them simply because you don't have the money you owe them.