They informed The Editor he will not receive a short-term refund under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
Instead of using the trillions of surplus tax dollars to help reduce the national debt and salvage Social Security and Medicare, they send refund checks of $300, $500 and $600 to singles, heads of household and married couples who paid federal taxes for 2000.
The Editor lost out because he overpaid the thousands of dollars withheld from his retirement pension--thanks to head-of-household status and considerable itemized deductions for medicine, mortgage interest, local-property and state-income taxes.
Nevermind that Uncle Sam's minions didn't pay The Editor a penny of interest on the pension income they withheld as taxes from January 2000 until the refund was received in March 2001.
The Notice of Status and Amount of Immediate Tax Relief said The Editor "did not pay any federal taxes in 2000."
Wrong. He paid federal taxes through the nose for 15 months into a noninterest-bearing rat hole.(22 JULY 2001)