About 35,000 Hawaii state tax filers will be among the first to receive their refunds after Gov. Linda Lingle announced that she would start issuing them because of improving tax collections.

The state issued $21 million in tax refunds last Friday, and another 70,000 refunds totaling $43 million have been processed and will be issued to tax filers as early as this week, the governor's office said today.

Those who signed up for automatic direct deposit were part of the first batch of refunds issued — 25,000 people received their refunds on Friday. Approximately 4,000 refund checks were mailed on Friday, and an additional 6,000 checks were mailed out yesterday.

The Department of Accounting and General Services will electronically deposit 50,000 refunds into tax filers' bank accounts on Wednesday. In addition, the state said approximately 20,000 check payments will be mailed out starting this week.

"We are pleased that we are able to get refunds out to tax filers," Lingle said in a statement. "We are able to issue the refunds at this time because of higher-than-expected tax collections, which is an encouraging sign that our economy is beginning to recover. I want to again thank Hawai'i taxpayers for their patience and understanding as we continue to work to address our budget shortfall, while setting the foundation for a stronger economic future."