Eric writes:
You’ve had a lot of press about the stimulus plan that’s about to send some cash my way. There’s been coverage all over the place, and everyone misses the most important part. What, EXACTLY, do I have to do to get this credit? I know I qualify. Do I have to send in an extra form? Is there a box I check? Am I supposed to expect the gov’t to actually do something right and take care of it themselves?
Yes. This is (probably) the easiest $600 you will ever made. Just file your taxes, sit back, and wait for the hot government scrizzle to come pouring into your mailbox.
(Photo: Getty)
More From Consumerist
-
Fossil's Repair Center Gave Me A New Watch Band I Never Wanted
-
We Don’t Want To Hear About Your Disappointing Flowers This Mother’s Day
-
Netflix Locks My Wife Out Of Her Profile, Shrugs
-
My Virgin Mobile Phone Fails At Basic Phone Functions.
-
Demanding A Refund From Toys ‘R’ Us Leads To Infighting, Tears
@stinkingbob: “Now, your comment about Illegals doing jobs that lazy Americans don’t want to do is bull. You should be shot.”
Apparently you are completely ignorant of the realities of agriculture. The crackdown on illegals has already cut deeply into major difficulties with labor-intensive crops getting harvested. There simply ARE NOT enough people willing to do the job, citizen, immigrant, legal, illegal, or green with purple spots. Some estimates show various California fruit crops going 50% unharvested, and California has far fewer problems than, say, Michigan in terms of getting enough farm labor. They’re hiring anyone who’ll show up. Nobody shows up.
(The currently-proposed guest-worker programs, btw, will not bring enough agricultural workers into the country for our agricultural system to function properly.)
@fastm3driver: I understand where you are coming from and I would probably compromise to that position…
However, if we make them go home first and get in the back of the line, they will not have been rewarded for their original crime of crossing in the first place.
I guess that would be amnesty, but only if they went home and entered the race from the starting point…
I guess we took this way off topic, and for that I apologize… but I sure appreciate your thoughtful response.
@stinkingbob: I agree with your plan and I would, in fact prefer it. My resignation came from the fact that it will never pass. In my plan (jeez, I sound like a candidate) we encourage them to return home voluntarily, which is a whole lot cheaper than deporting them ourselves… but I am certainly not opposed to doing so based on traffic stops, employer crackdowns, etc.
I would prefer, first of all, that we satisfy our open jobs for those who are citizens first. Even those on welfare that can perform simple tasks could do some of those jobs that the rest of us “will not do”. I would be more than happy to allow the government to pay for childcare, etc. for those on welfare who can work at one of these jobs as a condition of receiving welfare benefits.
Of course, those with disabilities, etc. that prevent them from working would still get needed welfare benefits.
@mac-phisto:
you really have no idea about this stuff do you? do you know how the united states became an economic powerhouse? immigrants. they mined our coal, built our railroads, worked in our textile mills, stoked the coke fires, & built the skyscrapers that stand as testament to our power.
Yes, that is true, but don’t forget that it was a much different time back then as compared to now. For you see, there was such a thing as American-Made. There were steel manufacturing plants and car manufacturing plants back. Janitorial, hotel-related, construction jobs were done by Americans. Also, the immigrants that came to the USA back then had a SKILL. Meaning they could contribute to the well being of the country. Todays immigrants don’t.
El Chicho, you wrote:
“An immigrant with a job does not mean one less job for citizens; “
This statement makes no sense. Suppose I am am employer with only 1 job opening. There are 2 candidates. I give a candidate the job. That means that there is one candidate without a job. SO, where is the job for that candidate elcheeco? Does this job magically appear?
@AD8BC:
The thing is, they will never voluntarily go home so something has to be done about it now. I am just concerned about the young people growing up. It used to be that they would get summer jobs at Mc DOnalds or be interns at companies. Now, these positions are being filled by illegals who will do the work cheaper and be off the books so the company does not pay taxes. So, what do young teens do in their spare time as a result-get into trouble.
@Eyebrows McGee: I see you fall into a trap common to advocates of illegal labor: failure to trust the free market. If you have a job such as fruit picking, and your current compensation package doesn’t attract sufficient labor you must increase said compensation. For some reason commenters here always take the capitalistic stance in regard to businesses selling things, but not for hiring. Yesterday’s story about Best Buy upping the sale price for a popular laptop was explained by this, so why are people unable to see it applied to the labor force?
@stinkingbob:
“Now, your comment about Illegals doing jobs that lazy Americans don’t want to do is bull. You should be shot.”
Where exactly did I make any comment like that, idiot?
@stinkingbob: Yeah, you’re probably right…
I had it in my head that if they went home and applied and came back legally they could live without feeling like there was a price on their head. At least until their work term was up.
Some of the more logical ones might take up the opportunity. But you’re right, it would only really work if we stepped up enforcement and started deporting more. They might get scared and go back home and then apply for guest status.
I just really don’t like the idea of giving any kind of status to those here illegally and putting them in front of the line.
@dwneylonsr: While it’s technically an advance on next years return, you will be getting a tax credit next year, so instead of getting the credit next year when you file, you get it this year.
Which is to say, it doesn’t count against your “return.” In fact, if you do your taxes right, you shouldn’t have a return in the first place
@ClayS:
Clays, you pinche puto de mierda, you didn’t make that comment. It was from someone else. I just bunched the comments into a single post.
@AD8BC: I made 25,000 and paid federal taxes.
I wonder how much it really would impact our economy if suddenly ALL the illegal aliens were just somehow magically deported back to their own countries? I am sure many more illegals pay into Social Security right now than will ever be able to collect it. Those who do not work for cash under the table get federal taxes deducted, but many never file returns out of fear, so that is money that is never refunded. How much would prices go up on EVERYTHING????
My daughter’s boyfriend is from Mexico but not here legally, and they have 2 small children. He works trimming trees for an electric company and makes very good money. And on many weekends he works side jobs. Some of his relatives HAVE chosen to go back to Mexico and apply to get into this country legally, but it is out of fear. To me what kind of sense would it make to have him go back now and for their family to lose his income from a job he has had for many years? His family have done very good for themselves and run their own businesses. None I have met just sit around all day thinking of ways to cheat on their food stamps and welfare. To be honest I have seen that more with the Anglo people I know. No “you are being racist” comments please, I am White. My neighbor across the street, a White single mother of 3 sells HER food stamps for beer, so go figure.
I think the Government likes it when they can keep us preoccupied by having us hating and fearing each other, then we aren’t concentrating on the REAL and serious problems this country has!
@SangreDeThor: I don’t know, i haven’t seen any information about the tax rebate for dependants. Sorry.
“You should be shot.”
Thanks, Pol Pot. You & Stalin did great work solving the economic problems of your respective countries. Thanks so much for weighing in here at Consumerist, and do enjoy Hell.
@stinkingbob:
again, no. they didn’t recruit skilled chinese laborers to build the railroads – they loaded them up on ships & held them in near-slavelike conditions to get them to drive stakes. irish/german/russian/slavic miners didn’t know how to mine, they were given an axe & told they’d make enough to buy bread at the company store if they filled the wagon before sundown.
this country’s industry was built with the sweat of unskilled immigrant labor. the only thing that has changed is our immigration policy. “give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…” is now, “give us your educated, your productive, your well-to-do longing to be richer…”
one could argue that a closed-door immigration policy is the very reason that there is no more american industry. industry has moved elsewhere b/c cheap, readily-available labor doesn’t exist.
i don’t support the current state of immigration for a wide variety of reasons. but trying to stop people from coming here? throwing them in jail or deporting them if they come anyway? come on. we’ve been trying that for 3 decades. isn’t it obvious that it’s not working? create a way for foreigners to come here, become documented, pay taxes & work towards citizenship regardless of their level of skill.
@SkyeBlue:
exactly. except, it’s not limited to the government. you’re welcome to include anyone in power there.
@mac-phisto: Yes.
But don’t let the ones that are currently here illegally jump to the front of the line. allow them to sign up but in person in Mexico.
This is not a tax rebate. This is a loan from the Chinese that our children’s children will have to pay.
STINKINGBOB: “Also, the immigrants that came to the USA back then had a SKILL. Meaning they could contribute to the well being of the country. Todays immigrants don’t.”
Well that actually isn’t true, not for all of them. I’ve traced my family history back in this country to 1796 and most of my relatives who came from Europe worked as farmers, loggers and maids once they arrived here. Many of them according to census records could neither read nor write! One signed a paper renouncing his allegiance to the Queen of England with an X!
They also probably worked themselves to death at a young age doing jobs not many other people wanted to do.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
@stinkingbob: Advocating violence against a commenter you disagree with?
Flagged.
@stinkingbob: While I am against illegal immigration, not all illegals are without skills or knowledge of trades. This country was founded on people with nothing in their pockets but big dreams and the drive to achieve them.
When you have that even if you dont come with skills you can achieve your dreams and those dreams can add to this countries greatness.
The kicker to this is you have to be driven and have the passion to do what is needed to achieve those dreams.
One thing to remember is with every group there are bad apples.
I saw a documentary a few months back on either LINK or FSTV that followed a group of 4 men who were coming from Mexico to the US illegally. A very dangerous and hard experience. In the end 3 got caught by the Border patrol (One got away) and sent back to Mexico, one decided to stay in Mexico and not attempt the trip again. But 2 of them attempted make the trip again but froze to death while sleeping outside in the Winter.
It kind of makes you wonder what kind of poverty people must be trying to escape from. What would we do if it were US in THEIR situation? Would we stay or would we try to make a better life for ourselves and our families? I think POVERTY is what is the real crime, not being an illegal alien.
If you have one of something everyone wants it’s valuable, but if you give everyone six hundred of those things, your one thing is no longer as valuable.
Handing out cash is not the way to fix an economical problem.
I feel kind of stupid for even bothering to ask, but is there any chance an American ex-patriot living in Japan who didn’t pay US income taxes can get the refund?
@SangreDeThor: I was wondering the same thing. I’m also 22 and I work full time and go to school part time, and I’m on my parents medical insurance still, so they claim me. I pay my own school expenses even. But the answer is no. We don’t get anything. I think it’s bullshit that we pay income taxes and don’t get a refund, and then people who make less than 3k still get 300 bucks. From Yahoo Finance:
“In many cases, there is a rebate bonus for children. But not for all kids.
For rebate purposes, a qualifying child is one who is younger than 17. That means that taxpayers who claim an older college student as a dependent won’t get the extra money.
Neither will college kids themselves be happy. The rebate bill specifically makes dependents, or even those who could be claimed as a dependent, ineligible for the rebate. So students who can be claimed by parents won’t get rebates even if they held jobs outside class that otherwise would have qualified them for the money.
“The kid may have $3,000 in income, but his parents are paying much more for his college expenses so he’s a dependent,” says Bob D. Scharin, RIA senior tax analyst form Thomson Tax & Accounting. “It does seem unfair that the child can’t claim the rebate.”
[finance.yahoo.com]