False reports have circulated that the stimulus checks are an advance on your tax rebate and were going to cut into your tax rebate. That’s not the whole story. Yes, it’s an advance, but it’s an advance on an additional credit Congress passed for your 2008 earned income. It’s too late to do that for 2007, seeing as it’s already over. “So the government is making me borrow from myself?!?!?” No. Congress is giving your 2009 self a $600 credit, and is sending that $600 back in time by one year.
rebates
Buy.com Doesn't Honor Rebates Like Newegg
By 2.8.08
Yesterday’s post about Newegg honoring a failed rebate request prompted this email from another reader, who had a similar situation with Buy.com but with a very different outcome. If you’ve ever dealt with Buy.com—known for having some of the worst customer service in the industry—this won’t surprise you.
Newegg Honors Rebate For Out-Of-Business Company
By 2.7.08
More praise for Newegg, one of those rare retailers with an exceptional customer service record. Andrea bought an Astar Electronics HDMI Player with DIVX and sent off her rebate request, but never received the promised rebate.
Reach AT&T Executive Customer Service, Rebates, Retentions
By 2.5.08
Retentions 866-485-5238
(Photo: bryce_edwards)
By 2.4.08
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Scammers are calling up people and pretending to be from the government and here to help with getting you your tax rebate. All you have to do is give them your bank account information. [9news]
IRS Warns Consumers Not To Fall For Rebate Scams
By 1.31.08
The IRS would like you to know that its not planning on emailing you about your tax rebate. “The IRS does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters to individual, business, tax-exempt or other taxpayers,” the agency warned yesterday.
By 1.30.08
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The House yesterday passed H.R. 5140, the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008, by a vote of 385-35. The $146 billion economic stimulus plan funds $600 rebates for most taxpayers making less than $75,000. The Senate is preparing a competing $161 billion package that would extend unemployment insurance and give most Americans, including billionaires, a $500 rebate check. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi begged the Senate to shut up and play nice, saying: “I hope the Senate will take heed. It’s not unprecedented that one chamber has yielded to another.” [THOMAS]
Poll Results: How Will You Spend Your Tax Rebates?
By 1.28.08
Last Thursday we polled our readers for what they plan on doing with their money when they get their tax rebate checks. The result is that Consumerist readers mainly plan on using their money in precisely the opposite way that the politicians want them to, paying off debt (46.3%) and saving it in the bank (30%). All the other options combined, which would have a supposedly more directly stimulating effect on the economy, add up to only 23.8%. Food came in at 1.5%, depreciating assets 8.2%, discretionary spending 4.5% and stimulating the critical beer and cigarette industries 9.6%. It seems our readers are more concerned about their personal finances than the national economy. Good. Maybe if more people were like them we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place.
U.S. News: It's Your Own Damn Fault You Can't Redeem Rebates
By 1.27.08
U.S. News & World Report hates our inability to redeem rebates. If we only tried harder, they say, we might be able to conquer our “tendency to procrastinate and inability to follow multistep directions.” Yes, that must be the problem.
Senate To Scuttle Timely Economic Stimulus Plan
By 1.26.08
Smarting from its continued failure to check the expansive growth of the unitary executive, the Senate has decided to assert itself by derailing an agreed upon economic stimulus plan. Senate leaders are now insisting that the stimulus plan contain an extra $25 billion to fund road work, tax cuts, and extend unemployment insurance.
By 1.24.08
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The first tax rebate checks will be sent out in May and just about everyone should have them by July. [AP]
How Will You Spend Your Tax Rebates?
By 1.24.08
Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.
Economic Stimulus Plan Passes
By 1.24.08
Accord was reached and the economic stimulus plan has passed. Here’s a brass tacks breakdown:
What Should I Do About A Lost Receipt?
By 1.24.08
I bought a Playstation 3 last November, wooed by the thought of 5 free Blu Ray movies. However, last night when I went to fill out the rebate form, I found my wife had thrown away the sales receipt! Doh! I purchased this from Shop Ko using a credit card, but Shop Ko has told me they cannot look up or reprint my receipt.
Tentative Economic Stimulus Deal Reached
By 1.24.08
The Administration and Congress have negotiated the outline of how the proposed economic stimulus plan will play out. Here’s how much in rebates you could be getting back, depending on your situation:
$800-$1600 Rebates Expected In Bush Stimulus Plan
By 1.18.08
It looks like Bush’s economic stimulus package is going to take the form of instant cash bonuses: $800 for individuals and $1600 for married couples. That’s dumb, everyone should get Costco coupons! All kidding aside, the NYT says the ~$500 rebates granted after the 2001 recessions proved “surprisingly effective…people spent most of the money rather than salting it away in savings or using it to pay down credit card debt. A 2004 study by economists at the Department of Labor, Princeton University, and the University of Pennsylvania found that households spent between 20 and 40 percent of the rebate within three months and another third in the following three months.” Will this “wealth surge” be just what the countries needs to beat back the forces of recession holed up in our economy, terrorizing our financial well-being? Bring on Operation Cash Dump.
American Airlines Doesn't Care If You Were Rushed To The ER With Appendicitis. You Are A No Show, And Will Receive No Refund.
By 1.6.08
“What is ya’lls experience with dealing with AA when the passenger has a case of appendicitis? My sister is going under the knife in London right now, and was admitted to the ER 6hrs before her scheduled flight back to Seattle. We’ve called AA and they say no chance of getting any sort of re-booking, rebate, coupon, or whatever because she was listed as a “No Show” for the flight. We called the airline before the flight to inform them of the situation.”
