Governor Lingle Proposes Delaying State Tax Refund Checks

Don't bank on a quick state tax refund to make it through the spring.

The governor wants to hold on to your money for a little while to patch a budget gap.

Next year's tax refunds would be paid in July according to the governor's latest budget plan.

A sting to the counties could end up hitting your pocket too, if they have to make up for lost hotel tax.

When you file your taxes for 2009, expect to wait until july 2010 for any refund.

That's because the governor needs 275 million dollars from refunds to wait a bit before mailing out, in order to lapse into the next fiscal year on the state books

"Those funds will get back to people, they will get into the economy, they're not permanently take out, but that delay allows us to get through that 2010 budget crisis that we have right now," said Governor Lingle.

A crisis that's grown to a 1.2 billion dollar shortfall over just the rest of this fiscal year plus the next one.

We asked what about a crisis of a family's budget waiting on that money.

"This is a heads up that you need to start planning," said the Governor.