CNN.com is saying it's $600 per tax paying individual and $1200 per tax paying couple...

I liked the $800 deal better, but I won't complain for "free" money.

My first instinct is that this is pretty stupid. Wouldn't the people making 75K+ be the most likely to take the money and actually spend it? The lower earners are more likely to pay off debt, based on behavior last time they did this.

Someone tell me why I am wrong, because I feel like I must be missing something here.

@FatLynn:
The explanation I've heard is that high-income people are likely to just stick the extra $ in the bank.

Is it prorated up to that 75/150k limit?

is this free money or is it an advance on next year's return?

Lower income people are more likely to spend the money where the economy needs it most, the critical beer and cigarette industries.

If they can afford to give it back why the hell did they take it in the first place.

Wow. When they did this in '01, I was in college and not eligible. Now I'm not eligible for being over the income threshold. Not a bad statement on my life, but I would love to get something back from the government once in my life.

Just think, if we could get all the illegals to quit sending their money home and let it recirculate here, we wouldn't need help from the government!

If you're making around $75k in certain parts of California you're poor :P No love for the dot-com bubble families!

@jaydez:

Free money. Check in June is what they're trying to do.

I'm going to buy 300 cups of coffee.

@SoCalGNX: With the way the US dollar is performing lately, I think they're sending money TO America! :P

@satoru:

Yeah, I'm glad I'm middle class in the midwest. I qualify.

However, I was going to be pissed if it was based on paying social security taxes, because I am not an eligable SS employee full time (I do pay into it at my PT job, but working 5hrs/wk isn't enough for benefits).

Oh man, i'm right at the limit of 75k. Those rotten bastards! *shakes fist*

Great, now our government is giving payday advance loans. We get $1200 tacked onto the $30,000 per person owed for the federal debt.

Stupid. We should just take the pain of bad money management, corruption and malfeasance and be done with it. This economic stimulus won't fix the real problems of the economy.

@cashmerewhore:

eligible. i fail at spelling today :/

@Ben Popken: I was thinking that as well. The sub-prime meltdown seems to have shown that low-income families have sub-zero understanding of finances. I think that money would just end up in the hole of pay-day loans or some other stupid place where it won't actually do any good.

Instead of this:

Workers who get a paycheck (even if they don't earn enough to pay taxes)

It would be more accurate to say this:

Workers who get a paycheck (even if they don't earn enough to pay federal income taxes)

Even if one is paying 0 in Federal income tax you are still paying 6% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare taxes, and you may or may not be paying state income tax.

Yeah, no cash for me -- I'm not rich, but I live in New York, which puts my middle-class salary for here in the wealthy zone nationwide. Hmmmph.

However, even during the brief window when I thought i might get some of this, I felt like this was pretty much wallpapering over the hole in the wall.

Are the big oil companies going to subsidize this payback or do they still need help with their quarterly profits???

Anyone have any guesses as to what numbers they will use to determine the income thresholds? If they need to do this quickly it seems like they will need to use the numbers for TY2006 tax returns?

Mantari: Screwed again! Subsidizing the little guy! Hey, I still qualify as middle class, too, you know.

@headon: They (i.e.: We) can't afford it. It will directly add to the annual budget deficit.

@cashmerewhore: The money is by no means free. It is printed out of thin air which hurts our economy and hurts us, the consumer, in the long run.

this is not FREE money, people.
how clueless could you possibly be?
we're just digging a deeper hole.
of course, I suppose that it makes sense that the people who make less than $75K/yr would be doing the digging...

Okay... I have to put on my Consumerist Complainer hat:

"This new policy is an OUTRAGE! It is so anti-Capitalist that I can't believe this isn't an idea straight out of communist Russia! We're actually PAYING people who are a failure at Capitalism? We're rewarding those who AREN'T fully leveraging themselves and their assets?

Where is Newt Gingrich when you need him? Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his conservative vault right now!"

Should be labeled the Ironclad Incumbent Protection Act of 2008. I have never seen a more transparent attempt to assure the reelection of 33 Senators and 435 Representatives.This is free candy being handed out before the election for class president in the 6th grade stuff,you people ! Is the economy really that bad ? What are these politicians going to do if unemplyment hits 7-8- or 9 %? (Its a shade under 5 now)If you're hurting,hey- I'm glad you're getting some quick cash. but the savings rate is negative,and people in general are turning tricks on Peter to pay Paul now.What to do if we really have a recession ?

Just had to throw the Mormon thing in there, didn't you Ben?

I agree that this is not really good for our economy, but I could use some extra money this year. I'll probably be putting it into home renovation projects.

Does anyone know when we will get the "stipend"?

Fantastic. Apparently I've worked too hard in life to be eligible for any of this.

Another FU to the middle class. And yeah, 75K where I live ain't much.

They probably know that I'd just invest it. Not run out to blow it on a new iPhone, or other crap.

I hate how the media has been reporting on these numbers for the last few days, but there is no explanation yet of the details about who will be eligible. The devil is in the details - I'm sure they will find some way to make sure I don't get this.

Bah. Nothing for me. I totally would have blown it on something stupid and stimulating, too.

Cost of a PS3 and a couple of games is about $600 - I bet Sony sees a nice pop in sales, seems like the sort of thing people will buy with the gubmint money.

@samurailynn:

They're shooting for June.

"Hi, Apple? About that iPhone I've been wanting..."

First off, i would think most of the people who would qualify this are saddled with so much debt, they actually are likely to spend the "free money" rather than use it to pay down debt- what's $300 when you're down 8k in credit cards and upside down on your mortgage?

Second, this is totally wet TP over the hole in the plaster. It would seem like even if everyone went out and spent every cent, it wouldn't be enough to jump start the areas of our economy which need it- namely housing and such.

This reeks of political shennanigans. But hell, mine will buy me a new 100mm macro lens, so who's counting?

@punkrawka:

Nothing for me too. Just one more way I am getting screwed by Bush.

@FatLynn: Well, if you're in debt that assumes you don't have a lot of cash. So, if your cards are all maxed out, you'll use the tax cut as much needed cash, rather than pay off debt and then max out that card again.

How is Bush screwing you, he wanted it to be $800 per taxpayer no matter how much you made. The democrats are the ones who wanted the amount reduced.

STUPID. Borrow from our kids to pay for our greed.

@EBounding:

nice Futurama refrence.

@HRHKingFriday: In 2001, most people used it to pay down debt. I would expect the same behavior this time around.

@strum40:
Right On!

Assuming I get something, it's gonna get stashed for emergencies.

@snarkysnake: See: Lollypop economics
@mantari: Yes, but when we talk about failures of capitialism, how can we call people who work 60 hour weeks failures? And to that end, what would we do with these failures? Eliminate them? The real failures are a the people at the top that wanted all their profit now, and could regulate their growth for long term profits. Actually, thats the one thing the tech industry has been doing right after the dot.com collapse. They've been growing slowly and defying speculation that would have only made them short term profit.

@JiminyChristmas: 15.3 SS Tax + Med* + State Med*

If they politicians didn't get votes by "Unilaterally" "Coming together" in a "Bipartisan Way" to buy votes. A better stimulus package would be to simply remove some taxes or say, give a 90 day tax holiday on Diesel and Gasoline. Lower income people don't pay federal income tax, they hardly pay any taxes period. However, energy taxes are a core cost of business and you could easily save lower income people 100s and businesses thousands with a tax holiday...rather than free money in the mail.

So if I meet the requirements, but am declared as a dependent by my parents, do I get anything?

I think this is a horrible idea, and IF it helps, it will be very short term, and no matter what Dubya does, I still won't ever vote republican in my life, but as long as the government is sending out money, I'll take it.

Man, another year or two, and we might not qualify for that sort of thing. Of course, we'll probably spend half and save half (or save more, I guess), so we're clearly not the targets for this.

@FatLynn: In 2001, less people had maxed out credit card bills and staggering energy bills. But, you could be right, people don't tend to change that much.