Missouri income tax refunds up this year

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Many Missouri income taxpayers are getting larger checks from the state this year. A little more than a month into the tax filing season, the average income tax refund is up more than 60 percent over 2003 -- $270 this year, compared to $164 last year, Revenue Department director Carol Fischer said Monday. Fischer said her staff hasn't analyzed the reason for the increase. But Democratic Gov. Bob Holden has suggested that Missourians will get larger tax refunds -- and the state will get less money -- because of Republican President Bush's tax-cutting package enacted last year. "We've said all along that we expected to see larger refunds because of the federal tax cut last year," he said Monday in a telephone interview. "The benefit has not been that beneficial to the average Missouri family, but the impact to my (state) budget has been great."

Tax filing season started in January and runs through April 15. So far, about 280,000 taxpayers have filed returns, slightly ahead of last year's pace but still just 10 percent of the expected total tax returns, Fischer said.