JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Don't spend it all in one place!

More than a million Missourians will be receiving small refund checks -- averaging about $2 each -- from the state in the next five weeks thanks to a Missouri Supreme Court ruling last year, state officials said Friday.

The state Department of Revenue said that 1.4 million Missourians will be splitting a refund pool of about $5.95 million. The median individual return will be about $2, or less than 1 percent of individual tax liability from 1998 and 1999 tax years.

Checks will be sent to taxpayers with the lowest numbered ZIP codes first, proceeding to the highest.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled last December that the state must count as revenue certain tax credits that businesses receive.

The Hancock Amendment, approved by voters in 1980, uses a complicated formula to tie the growth in state revenue to the growth in Missourians' personal income.