Good News: Trump White House Says Government Shutdown Won't Impact Tax Refunds

Matt Vespa | January 07, 2019 3:24 PM

Conservatives may not mind a government shutdown. The powers that be cannot infringe on our rights, some money isn’t being spent etc. you know the drill. And this current fight is over something that is essential to national and border security. The Trump White House has to follow through on this border wall. It’s a key campaign promise, and he’s only asking $5 billion for some of it. Democrats, fresh off their 2018 wins, are not willing to play ball. House Democrats don’t want to give Trump one cent for the project. They claim it’s a waste of money, though seem to think that socialized medicine is perfectly affordable. Democrats have yet to put forward a cogent plan for how they will at for their $30+ trillion health care boondoggle, but I digress.

Cortney wrote that Trump told Schumer the shutdown over the wall could last months, even years. Hey, I’m down, until we get to the business of tax refunds (via WSJ):

A prolonged government shutdown would likely delay billions of dollars in income-tax refunds.
The Internal Revenue Service is one of the agencies that now lacks funding, and the U.S. tax collector has been operating with about 1 in 8 employees under the shutdown plan it uses outside the tax-filing season.
During a shutdown, the IRS can continue activities that protect government property, and the agency may bring in more workers soon to prepare for the income-tax filing season. Even during a shutdown, the agency still processes some tax returns that include payments, keeps computer systems running and continues criminal investigations. But the IRS generally doesn’t conduct audits, respond to taxpayer questions outside the filing season or—brace yourself—pay refunds.

That could put a wrinkle in the shutdown strategy. As much as anyone likes to see D.C. shutdown, if people don’t get their refunds, bad things will happen. The Trump White House seems to be aware of this, as they’ve announced that refunds will not be impacted during the shutdown. Protocols will be released soon, according to CBS News.