Gomers -- What's going wrong

MISSING SALES TAX: Sales tax delinquencies among Iowa businesses soared by 17.1 percent in fiscal year 2011. That translates into 52,000 businesses who failed to remit sales tax collections in full or on time, The Gazette reported. The delinquencies translated to about $83 million lost in state revenue.

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STILL STRUGGLING: Honey Creek Resort, Iowa's first state-owned resort, made more money in fiscal 2011 but still came up $220,000 below budgeted revenue, and thus short of what it needed to meet bond payments, management fees and insurance costs.

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PRISON SQUEEZE: If current trends continue, the occupancy rate at Iowa's nine state prisons are projected to hit a record 9,259 in 2013 and soar to about 11,330 inmates by 2021 - pushing the population to nearly 150 percent of the planned capacity, including the new/upgraded facilities in Fort Madison and Mitchellville. A dramatic increase in drug convictions and changes in sentencing and drug-offender laws that keep inmates in prison longer are the chief factors. Obviously, something must change if Iowa wants to avoid paying for more prisons.

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