Bush Lie : Tax Cut Checks are Spent on Paying off debt ...CBS

[cthrumatrix]

Poll: Rebate checks paying off debt
By Carolyn Pritchard, CBS MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 9:28 AM ET Aug. 20, 2003


SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Almost half of Americans who've received tax-rebate checks have used that money to pay off debt rather than spend it on goods and services, according to a recent CBS News/MarketWatch poll.

Thirty percent of those surveyed said they've received their rebate checks, and, of those, 46 percent said the funds went to pay bills. Another 29 percent of recipients said they've saved or invested the rebate money, while just 18 percent said they'd spent it.

The results are at odds with the Bush administration's -- and certainly retailers' -- hope that Americans would quickly spend the windfall and stimulate economic recovery.

Retail-sector analyst Daniel Barry of Merrill Lynch conceded the effects on retailers have been muted but said the rebate checks are, in fact, among several factors bolstering retailers' results of late.

http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7BFB597A74%2DD1A8%2D4CC6%2DA33C%2D3779B453B45A%7D&siteid=mktw

This is factoid the press should use when he "pop's off" about his tax cuts helping the economic recovery.

[Best_man23]

1. I'm still waiting for my check

Guess I don't get one.

[Skittles]

3. if you haven't multiplied

you are not worthy

[xray s]

2. Hey...where's MY check?

Nothing in my mailbox but bills.

Property taxes UP.

Gasoline, electricity UP.

College tuition UP.

Medical expenses WAY UP.

But no tax rebate for me...

[spielino]

11. Did you qualify

for the rebate?

[Generic Other]

13. A few more items on the list

No cost of living raise. (Lucky to have a job).

Insurance costs up.

Roads and bridges in disrepair. (30% of American bridges seriously compromised).

School funding cut.

Libraries cut hours (Seattle library to close for a week this month).

Fewer emergency services available locally.

Overcrowding in jails leading to early release of dangerous criminals.

Lines are longer.

Americans are madder.

Soldiers are dying of thirst for lack of basic supplies.

Enjoy the rebate folks. Payback's gonna be a mother!

[aquart]

4. Gee, that's what George should have done with it.

[toska]

5. Just delaying the bills until April.

Paying off debt? Anybody using the rebate checks to pay off their debt is just creating more debt in April. That maybe good if everybody understood that it's an advance on next year's taxes, not a rebate. Unfortunately its portrayed in the media as free money.

[Jacobin]

7. ding ding ding

We have a winner.

It's an advance on your refund next year. If you have no refund coming in April, then you just got money you have to pay back to the government in April.

Its all barnum & bailey, smoke and mirrors

[depakid]

8. Paying off credit card debt now makes sense

considering the usurious interest rates many people pay.

Unfortunately, the meager amount in the checks is not likely to have much effect for people who've run their credit cards up, but every little bit you can use to pay down the principal helps- unless default and/or bankruptcy are already inevitable.

[jafap]

9. you need to explain that further

because I am still of the opinion that it is free money. Look at the first set of check they sent out. That was based on the creation of a 10% tax bracket. Thus your first $6,000 of taxable income would be taxed at 10% instead of 15%. So in mid 2001 they sent checks to people based on their 2000 tax returns. The checks were equal to Y*.05 where Y is "your taxable income" up to a maximum of $300 per person. When people did their 2001 tax returns they still paid 15% on their first $6,000 of TI, but that was only because they got the tax cut in advance. And you never had to pay that $300 back. They are doing the same thing now, only the checks are credits for your first two kids, which, as someone said, does nothing for those of us without kids. So I will get a check for $0.00 which I will use to take my imaginary girlfriend on an imaginary date - maybe get tickets to the world series - Red Sox vs. Cubs.
The crock of that whole scam was that they made a big show of sending out a bunch of $300 checks which were the very small tip of a humongous iceberg. There was much less fanfare when the Bill Gateses and Waltons and Cheneys got their $3 million checks.

[Rose Siding]

6. Sears is cashing them in the stores

I just heard the commercial.

Howard Dean got mine- not because I could afford it but because my health ins doubled, among other reasons. Should he be elected, and should he get his health plan passed, my rates go down almost $400 every month- The Bush tax "cut" x's twelve in that arena alone.

[pansypoo53219]

10. what check?

so far i haven't gotten squat.

[spielino]

12. We got $1667

We have five kids. Spent a grand on a beach trip. The rest will go to various bills. Am I glad to have it? Well let me say this: I ain't giving it back.

[Sinistrous]

14. Hope you have fun next April

when you get to pay it back (in a sense).