Government inefficiency

[Hacker James]

I was informed by Franchise Tax Board (California) that my refund may be delayed up to 13 weeks. No specific reason stated, only a blanket response stating it is usually due to incorrect or incomplete information, problems with address, or some item awaiting confirmation. I know my return is accurate except possibly NOT claiming a credit in a prior year, which should NOT have any affect on this year's return. In any event, and not that it will do any good what-so-ever, I contacted Governor Jerry Brown for assistance in the matter. (Not holding my breath on that one).   I hope it may get his interest owing to a tongue-in-cheek comment regarding how some things may have "Blew By You" as an intended pun to his formal girl friend Linda Ronstadt (Blue Bayou).  He might get a chuckle out of that and decide to entertain my inquiry. (again, highly doubtful).  In actuality, the state will owe ME money from prior years should I decide to file amended returns to get renters' credit owed me, that I did not claim at the time. They were small amounts and I simply did not bother.  Oh well, probably wasted effort, but makes me feel better.

as a side note: Several years ago, I was able to exercise a little political influence with then Governor Arnold Schwartzman in a dispute I had with DMV. At one time, I was active in the G.O.P. as a member of The Young Republicans. I have since switched political parties owing to my becoming disenchanted with childish actions several years in succession. I have had influence with several members of the U.S. Congress years ago as well, when a Senator from Ohio came to my aide in an immigration matter and my marriage on foreign soil.  So it does not always hurt to speak up, you never know what you are able to accomplish. It mostly depends on whether candidates believe they can get your vote or support.  I helped Howard Jarvis years ago get legislation passed regarding property taxes when I was still active in real estate. 

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Hacker James

[mcanadiens]

It's getting a bit frustrating dealing with a lot of them. God forbid you need something that falls outside of their machine processing.routines. Asking a live person to process anything on the state or federal level, is asking a lot.

[Patch]

Perhaps your state just does not have the money to pay all the returns they owe, including yours? Maybe they need more time to collect more revenue to catch up with what they owe. Blaming you for faulty paper work is just their way of getting around their own money crunch.

[Hacker James]

3 minutes ago, Patch said:

Perhaps your state just does not have the money to pay all the returns they owe, including yours? Maybe they need more time to collect more revenue to catch up with what they owe. Blaming you for faulty paper work is just their way of getting around their own money crunch.

Possibly, but their web site makes the statement that most refunds are accomplished within 10 days of receipt. Of course, that is a blanket statement with plenty of wiggle room. We are mostly at their mercy.  I will say that my previous encounter with the DMV was handled within 48 hours of my contacting "Arnold" and I received a personal phone call from DMV saying that the governor's office had called them and they assured me it would be taken care of immediately (which it was).

19 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

It's getting a bit frustrating dealing with a lot of them. God forbid you need something that falls outside of their machine processing.routines. Asking a live person to process anything on the state or federal level, is asking a lot.

oh yeah, and their web site makes it almost impossible to speak in person. The closest I got was an on-line chat session which resulted in the rep telling me, there was nothing he could do as the return was "in process".  Duh...no kidding?...why did he think I was trying to call?

[dak4n6]

I posted this in the 'Post a fact from your job':

I never cease to be amazed at how overdone every aspect of federal work is. Feds literally and truly believe that weighing a report or determining the word count is the best way of determining its quality. The more steps there are in a process, the better it is. The more procedures and policies an agency has, the better.

Your tax dollars at work..