Incompetence tax

Senator Kanavas gets it right- taxpayers just paid out another $1,000,000 in a "incompetence tax".

Due to the incompetence of Wisconsin's Department of Revenue, taxpayers shelled out $915,000 in interest payments to those folks that did not get their refunds in a timely fashion. It also cost taxpayers $54,000 in overtime pay to get caught up on the returns.

Computer scanners misread paper tax returns this year, delaying refunds and forcing the department to pay about 65,000 recipients 9% interest. The state paid more than $915,000 in interest and spent about $54,000 in overtime to catch up on the returns, Revenue Secretary Roger Ervin said in a letter to Sen. Ted Kanavas (R-Brookfield).

Kanavas said other taxpayers were having to pay for the state's errors.

"What we're doing is we're paying an incompetence tax," said Kanavas, who asked Ervin for the letter detailing the department's expenses.

I am a little curious why the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel opened this article with the line highlighted below.

The state Department of Revenue paid more than $900,000 in interest to taxpayers after computer and management problems caused delays in processing refunds, officials said Wednesday.

The State Department of Revenue paid not one thin dime out in interest. The State Department of Revenue has no money. Every single penny paid out was paid by the taxpayers of Wisconsin.