Previous Story
‘Local rebates, refunds out soon’
|
Posted on May 29 2008
Taxpayers can expect to receive their local refunds and rebates for 2007 in three months or less, according to the Department of Finance.
The department will start releasing “economic stimulus” payments from the federal government today. Approximately 11,000 checks are expected to be in the mailboxes this weekend.
Finance Secretary Eloy S. Inos said his department would next process advance payments of the child tax credit, and then payments of local tax refunds and rebates for 2007.
“We are looking at the latter part of July or the beginning of August,” said Inos.
Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the payment for the local refunds and rebates will come from the “cover-over” funds that the CNMI government had recovered from the U.S. government.
Toward the end of 2007, the Commonwealth reached a settlement with U.S. Department of Treasury on the dispute over federal taxes that the U.S. government failed to transfer—or “cover over”—to the local government. The CNMI received $26.4 million from the settlement.
The administration has set the money aside for the payment of tax refunds and rebates, excluding it from the budget resources identified for government operations.
Reyes expressed the governor’s appreciation for the federal funds to be distributed to local taxpayers starting today. He said the governor is grateful to the U.S. Congress and President Bush for including the commonwealth and the territories in the economic stimulus package bill.
“This could not have come at a more convenient time,” Reyes said, citing the skyrocketing prices of fuel and power.
The federal rebates range up to $600 for an individual and $1,200 for a couple. Families with children will get $300 per child. The law guarantees workers who earned at least $3,000 in 2007 will receive at least a $300 tax rebate.
The rebates would phase out gradually for single taxpayers whose adjusted gross incomes exceeds $75,000 and for couples with incomes over $150,000.
The rebates were the centerpiece of the U.S. government’s $168 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and are designed to bolster consumer spending and stir the sluggish economy.
