They can. they say they don t have the ability like the federal government to run up a deficit so they have to deal with the cash they have. apparently across the country, there s something like $180 billion shortfall right now in state budgets. we got a statement from the new york state spokesperson, and he spoke for i guess a lot of the states when he said, we understand this is be a inconvenience for filers but unfortunately this is necessary in order to address our extraordinary cash flow difficulties and ensure the continued orderly operation of government. the sheer fact that difficult action such as this are necessary speaks to how dire the state s fiscal circumstances are or, how direly the state has been run. i ll say. are people going to get interest on the money kept longer than it should have been? depends on the state. most of the states in this country have a bit of leeway. like 30 days, for instance. missouri used to be 120 days but