Revenue Dept. finishes opening envelopes containing $129 million

The Kansas Department of Revenue said Monday it has finished opening the thousands of envelopes from people who filed their taxes by mail, and it is depositing about $129 million worth of checks from people who owed a balance on their tax return.

By comparison, legislative research officials said, the department was holding onto only $20 million worth of uncashed checks at this point last year.

The image of all that money sitting in stacks of unopened mail had been something of a sore spot for legislators who’ve been busy trying to figure out how to plug the state’s estimated $422 million budget gap.

That small influx of money trims the estimated shortfall for next year down to about $406 million, researchers said.