What do you guys think about this new tax rebate?

[dragonrider]

So I FINALLY got a letter from the IRS on Monday the 9th. Even though I think this whole rebate thing is a ridiculous waste of money (borrowing cash to give away), I thought WOOOHOOOO, my rebate is finally here! No, it was a letter to tell my that they were going to mail the check on the 13th.

So why the hell would they send me a lettor on the 9th to tell me they were going to mail me a check on the 13th? Why not just put the freakin' check in the letter and mail it on the 9th? Or don't bother at all sending the "heads up" and just send the check on the 13th? Why do I need a warning that they are sending me a check in 4 days? I don't know how much it costs the IRS to mail a letter, but it costs me 43 cents postage plus the cost of the letter and the envelope. So if they are sending out 170 million of these, does it cost $73 million for them to send out these nifty little "check's in the mail" letters?

[JeffersonBud]

Nothing is for free with the government. I would imagine most people will either pay their rent, or pay off their bills. It is a dumb idea. How about taking the trillions spent on war and pumping it back into the economy.

[Iguana]

Nothing is for free with the government. I would imagine most people will either pay their rent, or pay off their bills. It is a dumb idea. How about taking the trillions spent on war and pumping it back into the economy.

The amount spent on current war actions is dwarfed by entitlement programs.

[texas grass]

i think its worthless,
1 people arnt spending the money on anything but bills
2 if i remember correctly, its a loan and you have to pay back next year
3 me or wife didnt get it, dont need it or want it, i dont want a loan form the gov

[delusionsofNORMALity]

as more people realize the tyranny of government you will probably see more of these pitiful handouts, the equivalent of tossing a buck to a panhandler as you pass by. we ask them to stem the tide of illegal immigration, they stall their plans and give us invisible fences. we ask for a bit of truth and transparency, they give us the rhetoric of hope and the illusion of change. we ask for relief from the rising price of fuel, they give us a month's grocery money and lock up another refinery. we demand our freedoms, they laugh and assault us with new fears to worry over.

to the all important bureaucracy the people are a necessary nuisance; children to be ignored or diverted with second hand baubles, tools on the road to ever more power. we are so easily confused by the promises of comfort and false safety, so easily mislead by the platitudes of our own sense of superiority. we are the greatest nation on earth and we are puling infants content with the assurances of a comfortable poverty.

[dragonrider]

i think its worthless,
1 people arnt spending the money on anything but bills
2 if i remember correctly, its a loan and you have to pay back next year
3 me or wife didnt get it, dont need it or want it, i dont want a loan form the gov

Well, I agree with you that it is a really stupid idea. But it is not a loan that you have to pay back next year. It might be that you misread something I wrote in another thread about this, so I want to be sure to expalin it here. The government is running a deficit, so if they are going to just give away money, they have to borrow it from somewhere. So it is a loan to the government, not a loan to you. The government is going to borrow the money and give it to you. You don't have to pay it back next year, but someday the government has to pay back the loan, so we will all pay for it in higher taxes in the future.

My feeling is that even if this rebate program is a completely asinine idea, if they are going to do it anyway, then I'm not going to give up my check. If you are eligible for a check, you should get it. Giving up your check now is not going to change the fact that we will all have to pay higher taxes in the future to cover the cost of this program. You're going to pay for it either way, so you might as well get your check.

[stinkyattic]

Well, let me update y'all on where my economic stimulus check went.
$450 went to keep my heating fuel from getting shut off.
$40 went into my gas tank.
$15 went to a 30 rack of Wisconsin's Finest (see! I'm stimulating p4b's economy! You're welcome, big guy )
And $25 got spent at an Economic Stimulus [read: sex toy] party thrown by a friend. I mean, just because the ECONOMY isn't getting stimulated...
And I then bought some groceries.

[Mississippi Steve]

I see paying my heating bill. Ugh. We need that $600 just to buy petroleum products these days.

Thats about $300 shy of being able to pay last months fuel bill for 1 service truck

[daihashi]

And $25 got spent at an Economic Stimulus [read: sex toy] party thrown by a friend. I mean, just because the ECONOMY isn't getting stimulated...

ROFL!! :thumbsup:

I think I spent about $550 on computer parts to build a new PC and I don't recall where the remaining 50 went.

Personally I think the stimulus checks were a pretty dumb idea. I thought so too when I was about 7 years younger (22 years old) when we got them the first time. Pretty bad if you're handing a youngster a $600 check and even then at that young age he realizes what a poor idea this is.

On the flip side.. I got a free computer. :stoned:

[daihashi]

It's a good incentive to stimulate the economy as long as "Joe Consumer" isn't stupid enough to take the cash to buy goods made in China. READ THE LABELS!:thumbsup:

Have a good one!:s4:

You know what would help "Joe Consumer" buy more American made products?? More taxing on import products, but that would require a signifigant portion of products to actually be made in the US.. which as we both know just doesn't happen so often anymore.