One of the major flaws with the current way we ensure money is redistributed to the taxpayers when there is an excess is that there are no clearly defined measures of how much is excess and how much must be returned to the taxpayers.
I would propose a system similar to Oregon's: The kicker law stipulates that when income tax collections exceed state economists' estimates by 2 percent or more, all of the excess must be returned to taxpayers. The amount of the tax refund depends on income.
This is a sound, fair way to deal with the $1 refund fiasco that our legislators like to give.