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18 STATES SENDING RESIDENTS TAX REFUNDS/REBATES:

18 STATES SENDING RESIDENTS TAX REFUNDS/REBATES:

So far this year, 17 states have or will issue rebate money to their residents. Massachusetts is about to up that list count to 18, thanks to a 1986 state law.

The Bay State's Department of Revenue this summer reported a fiscal-year-end tax revenue surplus of nearly $3 billion. Once the state auditor certifies the amount, which at the last unofficial count was $2.941 billion, the tax cap law known as Chapter 62F takes effect.

The payback law, a referendum approved 36 years ago by Massachusetts voters, requires the state rebate its taxpayers a percentage of the taxes they paid last year once a qualifying excess is attained.

The state auditor has until Tuesday, Sept. 20, to validate that Massachusetts' revenue did grow by more than the growth in residents' wages and salaries. If that happens, it would be just the second time the revenue cap rebate was triggered.

Cheers and shout outs for tax refunds and rebates: Since Bay Staters have lots of questions about the rebate, which is expected to start going out in November, the first of this weekend's Saturday Shout Out items is the Massachusetts tax office's online frequently asked questions about the Chapter 62F taxpayer refunds.

And since, as noted earlier in this post, Massachusetts is just the latest state to offer its taxpayers some financial relief, a second Saturday Shout Out goes to Dan Avery's State Stimulus Payments Update article for CNET.

Avery highlights the payments going out in Massachusetts, as well as refunds headed to residents of California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.

If you're due some money from your state treasury, here's hoping you get it soon. Spend wisely!