MISSOURIANS TO GET MORE REFUND CHECKS

Missouri income taxpayers will receive another round of tax refunds over the course of the next six weeks.

Taxpayers will receive an average of $76 each in refunds of over-collected state revenues, Department of Revenue spokeswoman Kay Dinolfo said.

The first checks were mailed Friday to the Springfield area.

The refund checks for Cape Girardeau residents are scheduled to be mailed about Oct. 8, Dinolfo said.

The checks are being mailed on the basis of ZIP codes, with the highest ZIP codes being mailed first.

Earlier this year the state sent out refunds in the reverse order, with St. Louis area taxpayers receiving the first checks. This time St. Louis area taxpayers will receive their checks last.

Refunds totaling $319 million will be sent to about 2.17 million income taxpayers. The refunds cover fiscal 1997.

"We will be finished with all the Missouri ones by Oct. 30," Dinolfo said.

About 260,000 taxpayers who reside out of state also are scheduled to receive refunds. "Most of them are people who live in Illinois and work in Missouri," she said.

This marks the third consecutive round of refunds of excess revenues mandated by the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution.

The amendment requires that revenues exceeding a constitutional limit must be refunded. Refunds are triggered if the revenue growth of state government exceeds by more than 1 percent the growth in Missourians' personal income.

Dinolfo said another round of refunds, averaging about $56 per taxpayer, is scheduled for next September.

AT A GLANCE

Refunds of overcollections in Missouri revenues:

WHY: Missouri revenues exceeded a constitutional cap during the 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998 fiscal years. The constitution's Hancock amendment requires that revenue growth exceeding 1 percent of the growth in Missourians' personal incomes be refunded.

HOW MUCH: The first two years of refunds have already been delivered. The refunds covering 1997's fiscal year will average about $76 per income taxpayer, for a total of about $319 million. The next round of refunds, covering the 1998 fiscal year, will average $56 for income taxpayers, or a total of about $245 million. Altogether, overcollections for the four years total about $940 million.

WHEN: The first quarter-million refund checks for 1997 were being mailed on Friday to the Springfield area. Another quarter million checks are to be mailed each week through Oct. 30, ending with checks for the St. Louis area. The checks are mailed in order of ZIP codes, from highest numbers to lowest. Springfield's ZIP code is 65898, St. Louis' is 63001.

CALCULATIONS: To determine the approximate amount of refunds being mailed now, taxpayers should compute 9 percent of their state tax liability for calendar year 1997.