Via the AP: Rebate letters to cost $42 million
At a cost of nearly $42 million, the IRS wants you to know: Your check is almost in the mail.
The Internal Revenue Service is spending the money on letters to alert taxpayers to expect rebate checks as part of the economic stimulus plan.
The notices are going out this month to an estimated 130 million households who filed returns for the 2006 tax year, at a cost $41.8 million, IRS spokesman John Lipold confirmed.
Stuff like this drives me crazy: there is absolutely no need whatsoever to do this. It is an utter waste of money. 1
It is also rather transparently a political commercial for the President:
“Dear Taxpayer,” the letters will begin, going on to say the IRS is pleased to inform the recipient that Congress passed and President Bush signed into law a plan that will provide payments of up to $600 for individuals who qualify or $1,200 for married couples filing jointly. The rebates are the centerpiece of a $168 billion economic stimulus package.
Like this letter, or something like it, couldn’t just go out with the checks themselves?
- Of course, I find the entire stimulus package to be a bit dubious and fiscally irresponsible. [↩]
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March 7th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I have to admit, it hardly seems like a conservative thing to be doing. . .
March 7th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I wholly concur. This kind of “economic stimulation” cannot be effective in the long run; for the vast majority of Americans, these checks are a drop in what is a very huge bucket of household debt. Through Q3 of 2007, the Federal Reserve’s Bureau of Economic Analysis is reporting household debt hovering around 96 as a percent of gross domestic product, with 40-50% being “normal” through 1990. It’s since then that things got really out of control.
What I can’t seem to understand (I didn’t major in economics) is how anyone can expect a healthy economy with that much outstanding consumer debt. I don’t think there’s really anything the president or congress could do at this point to pump prime the economy.
Most households – through superabundant credit – will spend their checks, literally, before they receive them. Then they will be gone, the economy will be where it was, and the government will be that much farther in the red for the year.
These letters are just another way to push Uncle Sam further into the red. Unbelievable.
I must be stupid for thinking these things, because the smart people in congress and the white house think this is a good idea. There is, in fact, a growing body of evidence to suggest that I am stupid. . .
March 8th, 2008 at 9:49 am
The national unemployment rate is still less than 5%. By the numbers the economy is very good. Aside from letting people get themselves into debt, I can’t see too much the government can do. And when the government tries to limit who can take on debt, the resulting policy is called racist ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining#History_of_the_practice ).
The rebate checks themselves won’t do anything for the economy. However the purpose of the bill isn’t the rebate but the tax cut. The rebate check is only meant to make it clear that tax cuts put money in your pocket.
March 8th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
That’s a sickening amount of money, especially when you stop to think that such horrible cost-to-benefit ratios accompany of lot of hare-brained spending the government does. I’m super conservative on spending, but even I would rather have that money spent on, say, additional welfare then on sending out ridiculous letters. Or just at .25 to my rebate, eh?
March 8th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I agree that the letters are dumb. They don’t accomplish anything useful, and the money could be better spent elsewhere. On the other hand, I have a hunch that the money would be spent poorly on something else. Like the national helium reserve ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Helium_Reserve).
March 9th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
The letters are so dumb because they even don’t explain what kind of income they are talking about. Is it Gross income, adjusted or taxable income. There is a big difference. So a lot of people may think they are going to receive the money but they will not.