Shutdown: Lots of pain, but IRS refunds should go out
Americans face an avalanche of disruptions from the government shutdown now stretching through its third week, said Abigail Abrams in Time.com. If you are buying a house with a government loan, your plans will probably be put on hold—“new housing development grants, loans for new homebuyers, and housing quality inspections may all be delayed.” The Small Business Administration is closed. Garbage is piling up in national parks. And if you live in Washington, D.C., here’s one surprise: The city’s marriage bureau was not deemed “essential,” so if you want to get married, you’ll need to cross the border to Maryland or Virginia.
One government function that probably will continue: Mailing tax refund checks. “There was a concern,” said Benjamin Siu and Matt Seyler in ABCNews.com, “that refunds to early filers this year might not be issued on time if the shutdown drags on.” This week, however, the White House updated guidance from previous shutdowns to allow for tax returns to be processed and refunds to be paid. One sticking point, however, is that the IRS employees who will work to process those refunds are required to work without pay. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, has filed suit against the government, potentially affecting the refunds. Even if refunds do go out, most IRS staff will still be furloughed, so don’t count on getting answers to any tax questions until the shutdown ends.
Small businesses are already suffering, said John Fritze in USA Today, and the damage extends far beyond Washington. A corner café in Oakland, across from an 18-story federal building, sits empty. And the SBA closing has stymied businesses around the country. “When Andrew Rickabaugh and his brother-inlaw decided to start a restoration business last year in Huntsville, Ala., they reached out to the SBA to guarantee a loan to help them buy equipment.” They hoped to get the loan approved and start the business around Christmas. Then the shutdown hit.
If you work for the government, it’s likely you’ll get back pay when there is a deal to reopen the government. But federal contractors, who “work side by side with civil servants and sometimes feel as if they are second-class citizens,” could face the worst consequences, said Kimberly Kindy in The Washington Post. Unlike their on-staff peers’, contractors’ jobs are unstable, and they have little hope of recovering back pay once the government restarts. While these experts sit furloughed, functions such as writing code for government projects and approving drugs at the FDA grind to a halt. The worst danger? That “they’ll find jobs that are more stable elsewhere.”