The governor of Indiana says the state has unexpectedly found nearly $300 million of tax revenue, adding to the state's surplus after a series of stringent budget cuts.

Governor Mitch Daniels, a Republican, said Tuesday the money came from businesses using an “e-Check” online payment system. He said since 2007, the money has been collected, but because of a computer glitch, the amounts were not tallied into the state's general fund.

Democratic lawmakers in the state called for an investigation into how the error could have gone unnoticed for so long. The top Democrat in the state senate, Minority Leader Vi Simpson, noted in a statement Tuesday that education spending had been cut by $300 million in the last two years, cuts she said hurt families and children. Simpson said that could have been avoided if the e-Check filings had been properly accounted for.

The government will now decide how to allocate the newly found money. If they choose not to spend it, the money, along with better than expected tax revenues, will add to the already $1.2 billion budget surplus. That could bring the surplus over the threshold to trigger an automatic tax refund under a new law passed by Governor Daniels.