"Economic Stimulus checks will begin to go out in May. The package, which passed the Senate 81-16, will send rebate checks to 130 million Americans in amounts of $300 to $600 for people who have an income between $3,000 and $75,000, plus $300 per child. Couples earning up to $150,000 would get $1,200. When you ask people what they will do with the money, they often say they will pay off their credit card bills," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "People may mean it when they say it, but when you look at what they actually do, most of the money gets spent."


What are you going to do with yours?

I'm going to save it, or put to towards musical gear. The thing I don't get about this is why do people who have children get additional money. Just because you don't have children doesn't mean that you don't put money back into the economy. It just goes to different things instead of what most people with children would spend it on.

^ isn't that what we do anyways?

quote:

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I'm going to save it, or put to towards musical gear. The thing I don't get about this is why do people who have children get additional money. Just because you don't have children doesn't mean that you don't put money back into the economy. It just goes to different things instead of what most people with children would spend it on.

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because they purchase more goods/services
ie. having a baby in the first year alone is over $1000 in diapers & formula

Uhmmm...the govn't is giving us $. Be happy.

because they purchase more goods/services
ie. having a baby in the first year alone is over $1000 in diapers & formula

I don't get it, so are you saying that two different families, one with children and one without children, and both families' combined household incomes are $60,000.00, the family with children spends more than the family without children?

I don't agree, if both families have the same total income, the only difference is instead of buying diapers and formula, they spend it on other things, even if they don't spend it and they choose to save their money it still goes toward the economy in some way, shape or form, whether it be in the form of investments i.e. stocks, bonds, real estate, mutual funds, venture capital, or private business.

The only difference is how the money ends up with any given business, but either way it still contributes toward the economy. Instead of buying products from "said" compay the money goes toward that companies total revenue generated.

The only exception I can think of is if you are storing your money in a matress, but really how many people do that anymore?

Uhmmm...the govn't is giving us $. Be happy.

bullsh!t proposal

I too was under the impression you wont be taxed on a rebate check. I have not been able to find conclusive evidence either way tho.

Vu I here what your saying but you have a good job and live at home. You have plenty of extra $$ to spend on high tech camera's and trips every weekend, not everyone has extra $$ to spend like that.

These checks will fuel a capitalistic society where spending $$ is key to its financial success. (in theory anyways)

^^your still reading it wrong dude or i'm miss understanding what your trying to say.

They are cutting your taxes to give you this money.

Instead of getting that extra $600 for a refund in 2009, your getting it early. A persons 2009 refund is not going to be $600 less then it normally would be.

Your not going to get taxed on this $$, just like your not taxed on your normal income tax return.

edit: wow u've added a lot more lol

I'm not saying the $600 going to be taxed. I'm saying you will have to report it as income on your 2008 taxes, which is how it will effect your refund for next year. But I don't get a refund, because I don't believe in giving the government what essentially amounts to an interest free loan.

My return every year usually breaks even. But with this check, I'm now going to be down $600 bucks. So I'm not going to spend the money, because I know I'm going to need it next April.

Surely you don't think the gov't is giving us this money out of the goodness of their collective hearts?

edit: A persons 2009 refund is not going to be $600 less then it normally would be.

That's EXACTLY what it would be.

From that link above:

To produce this cash, Congress created a one-time tax credit to reduce taxable income for most taxpayers this year.

Normally, you wouldn't see that cash until the spring of 2009, when you filed your 2008 return. But Congress wants to speed that money to you now, so checks will start going out in May.

Remember, this is your money you're getting back, and the rebate checks are basically an advance on your 2009 refund. When similar rebates were sent out in 2001, said tax expert Mark Luscombe, "a lot of people were upset to see their (next) refund reduced."

Listen, I'd loved to be proved wrong here. But I've talked to people significantly smarter than me about this, and done quite a bit of research, and it's all coming back to the same answer.

This money doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's gotta come from somewhere, unless they're printing 168 billion shiny new one dollar bills, which would be stupid, because doing THAT would devalue the dollar more than it already is.