Not that many normal people give a flip about the state's new business tax. It's too hot, and only business owners have to pay. But the people who do care — those taxpayers, officeholders, lobsters, budgeteers, etc. — have the fidgets.

The new tax was due on Monday. For a variety of reasons, the numbers — whether the tax will bring in what was budgeted and predicted — aren't available yet. Early returns, by some indications, are coming in more slowly than expected. Comptroller Susan Combs and her folks are processing returns and depositing checks and saying they won't have numbers until early next week.

It might be nothing, but officeholders bet a property tax cut on the income from the new tax, and they want to make sure it covers their bet. Until next week, they'll have to live with a bit of uncertainty and that's breeding all sorts of rumors. One: That the tax only produced $3 billion to $3.5 billion in the first three days of collection. If the numbers are right, they're lower than expected for a tax that's supposed to bring in $6 billion this year.

We'll leave that until the real numbers are in. In the meantime, some interesting little twists have surfaced:

• Some companies were able to dodge half their first year's tax bill when converting from one business form to another. Partnerships, including the so-called "Delaware Subs" — companies set up as partnerships with out of state papers to avoid the old franchise tax — could get the break by conversion to regular, Texas-owned companies. The return? They get to duck six months of the first year's taxes. Some of the state's biggest companies were organized that way.

• Taxpayers have until November, in some cases, to settle up with the state on their taxes. Some could pay an estimate (calculated according to the new tax law) now, then pay the balance they owe later in the year. Others could pay what they owed last year under the old tax — often much less than they owe under this new one — and wait until November to pay the balance.

• Companies that are paying the tax for the first time don't have to pay the new tax electronically and can pay instead by mail. As long as it was postmarked on time, they can enjoy the interest earned while that tax payment is in the mail. Get a big enough company with a big enough tax bill and the float is worth real money. And the definition of a new company can be read to include an old company that did pay taxes that's been combined with subsidiaries that didn't.