While legislators get ready to debate a second tax rebate, the supply chain is delaying delivery of the first one.
Indiana’s automatic tax rebate law delivered $125 rebates to Hoosiers. Roughly half of all taxpayers have bank information on file. State Auditor Tera Klutz says nearly all of those rebates have already been issued by direct deposit. But 1.7 million Hoosiers are receiving paper checks, twice as many as a typical year. Klutz says she hired an outside contractor to handle the extra load, and the company notified her office last week that it was short of paper.
Instead of the end of July as planned, Klutz now expects the process of printing and mailing checks to begin early next month and take five weeks once it gets underway.
But a second rebate means a second potential snag. When Governor Holcomb asked legislators to approve an additional $225 rebate, the plan was to combine them into one paper check for those who hadn’t gotten the first one yet. But the special session to approve the rebate has been delayed by 19 days while legislators work on an abortion bill, and some legislators are suggesting changes or additions to the rebate plan. The Office of Management and Budget director, Cris Johnston, says the auditor’s office can have address files compiled and ready to go. If the timing works out, he says the office can simply change the amount payable before printing. But he and Klutz say it’ll depend on when a bill is passed and signed into law.
