16 weeks, and whaddaya get, another day older …

Far be it for us to knock the state for trying to catch tax cheats — but the growing discontent among residents awaiting their tax refunds is palpable. Stories abound about folks who filed in February still waiting for their refunds today, nearly mid-May.

The backlog, explained the state Tax Department, is due to a new process that calls for every refund claim to be reviewed for possible fraud — and that’s nearly 300,000 returns for 2014.

Bottom line, folks, from your Tax Department: Be patient, expect up to 16 weeks for processing. Then on 16 weeks and 1 day (hope it doesn’t come to this), check status on tax.ehawaii.gov/hoihoi/refund.html.