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There is money for rebates – Teno
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Posted on Aug 03 1999
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has reiterated anew the availability of funds to pay out rebates and refunds covering the tax year 1998 in an apparent effort to appease taxpayers worried over their checks.
In an interview before he departed for Washington D.C. over the weekend, the local chief executive said the Department of Finance is preparing to input computer data prior to release of the money.
“As soon as the fund is available and also before the October due date, we would have already started paying the rebates,” Tenorio told reporters.
Finance Sec. Lucy DLG Nielsen earlier has assured that the first batch of rebates and refunds for those who filed their income tax returns early would be mailed between October and November this year.
She added that the government has funds to meet its obligations covering the last tax year, but said others might not be getting their rebates and refunds as scheduled.
DOF has raised more than 60 percent of the estimated $25 million that the government will need to pay out its obligations to taxpayers this year, of which at least $16 million have so far been transferred to the special rebate trust account to ensure their prompt payment.
The governor has in the past had to reiterate availability of funds to pay out rebates to ease growing fears that their money will be held up again because of the deepening financial woes confronting the government.
Last year, taxpayers did not receive their rebate money until July due to a shortfall in the rebate trust account. In the past, checks for rebates, refund and Earned Income Credit were released in lump sum during the month of May.
The previous administration has largely been blamed for this confusion as the account intended for rebates was believed to have been merged with general funds. When Tenorio assumed office in 1998, the trust account amounted only to over $2 million when it should have been at $30 million.
Short of cash, the government has pushed back release of rebate and refund checks to allow it to rebuild the special trust account.
A total of $28.07 million in rebates and refunds have been paid out by DOF for tax year 1997 to more than 42,000 individual and corporate taxpayers.
