Headed for a refund on that state tax return? Save your pennies—you may need them to file next year. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on House Bill 1349, recently signed by Governor Bob McDonnell, which replaces Virginia’s iFile program with a program called "Virginia Free File."
The program takes its lead from a Federal filing program of the same name, and limits free filing to those residents whose annual income totals $57,000 or less. The Virginia Department of Taxation estimates that 90,000 people who previously filed for free will now pay to do so.
Americans for Tax Reform commented in March that "moving this business from the government to the private sector is a good idea…the private sector would have an incentive to find as much savings as possible for taxpayers when preparing their taxes." As the T-D points out, some of those private sector companies have spent quite a few bucks themselves—namely, Intuit, the creator of TurboTax and a $7,500 donor to the McDonnell campaign.
The deadline for submitting your Federal Income Tax Return is tomorrow, by the way. The day also marks a sort of informal birthday for the Jefferson Area Tea Party, which will host a rally at the U.S. Post Office on Seminole Trail starting at 4pm. The post office closes at 5pm.
