Did anyone here actually SPEND their tax refund??

[spooked]

The Bush administration received the bad news that
consumer confidence is weakening, and we did not all spend our "tax refund" checks on consumer goods. I personally would never spend that money. For 2 years in a row, it has gone straight into my kids' savings accounts for college.

I would like to know if there has been a sharp increase in savings, as the following article claims a decrease in the sale of consumer goods, and if this is a direct result of the tax refund checks. Had the Bush Administration done a quick survey before emptying out the coffers to benefit their rich buddies, they would have learned that none of us would actually SPEND the money, but see it as an opportunity to save something for college, something that is so hard to do in this economy. Who in their right mind would think the tax refund would jump-start the economy??

SO, MY QUESTION IS...DID ANYONE ACTUALLY SPEND THEIR TAX REFUND???
WHO PUT IT IN SAVINGS FOR THE KIDS?


Portion of related article:

David Teather in New York
Saturday September 13, 2003
The Guardian

"The United States economy stumbled again yesterday with the release of crucial retail sales, consumer confidence and inflation data that were uniformly worse than analysts had been expecting.
According to the US commerce department, retail sales rose by 0.6% in August, well below Wall Street forecasts of 1.4%. In July, retail sales grew at a far brisker rate of 1.3%.

The figures will be a blow to the White House - consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of US economic activity and THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION HOPED THAT TAX CUTS AND REBATE CHEQUES ARRIVING IN THE POST WOULD GIVE THE LIMPING ECONOMY THE BOOST IT NEEDED."

[bluestateguy]

1. If I get one I'll let you know...

Then again, I have no kids and I am unmarried. Conservative white Republicans regard me as a waste of DNA, so I guess no check for me because I made the wrong lifestyle choice.

[MinnFats]

2. mine was claimed...

...long before it arrived.

"poof"

[knight_of_the_star]

3. What refund?

My little union job at a grocery store that I pay taxes on out of my payroll checks didn't get me a refund.

[madfloridian]

4. We did not get one.

n/t

[janx]

5. Do you mean that $360 check I got a couple of years ago?

It went to pay bills.

[Mz Pip]

6. What refund?

I got a couple of hundred bucks last year, but had to send it all back when it came time to file in April.

This bribe didn't work. I still despise Bush. No amount of tax cuts will change that.

MzPip
:dem:

[UTUSN]

8. Eh? Tax Refund??

Oh, my mistake----you wereaddressing the Top One Percent.

[Capn Sunshine]

7. I still owe $58,500

I'm one of the lucky ones. I only wish we could return to Clinton economics. Not only was the country safer and in better shape, but we ALL made more money.

But what a lot of bullshit cutting taxes is. It just means I write a smaller check; the difference hardly goes into the economy.

[karlschneider]

9. Yeah, I spent it. It just about covered the increase in property taxes

this year.
:grr:

[jab105]

32. didn't even cover the increase in my property taxes...

n/t

[KFC]

10. Apparently many did, according to the market

http://biz.yahoo.com/mu/update.html

...the market's reaction to the economic data had been overdone... After all, a monthly increase in retail sales of 0.6% is still a healthy one... Also, the correlation between sentiment and spending is relatively weak and the data clearly show that spending continues at a healthy pace...

The realization that the consumer remains strong, combined with today's decline in interest rates to their lowest level since the end of July, sparked an afternoon recovery in the equity market...

[david_vincent]

11. I'm another one who never received it

To this day, I don't know if they sent me one and it was stolen out of my mailbox, or if they just flat out didn't send me one. When I complained to the IRS, they insisted that I had cashed it and barely restrained themselves from calling me a liar and a would-be fraud... so it looks like I was robbed.

[1monster]

12. Yeah... I used it to pay child support for my husband's daughter....

Well, it seemed appropriate.

[jburton]

13. Ha!

What's that?

[bookman]

14. Save the tax increases

The best thing to do is save it for the increases the Bush budget will bring to local taxes.

[RichV]

15. Didn't get one.

But thanks for asking.

[shirlden]

16. I'm retired so

I did not get a refund. My niece and hubby are solid typical mid-class Muricans. They got the 400 child credit and it went for a local tax increase they owed. In one pocket and out the other. That sure isn't going to stimulate the economy. I rather suspect this type of "spending" took place in many homes.

[Kamika]

17. How do you get one?

Do you sign up somewhere or anything?

[eauclaireliberal]

18. There was no "Tax refund."

It was pretty much a loan against the next year's taxes. Sort of like having a fat-assed freeper who works at your bank come to your house with Bruno and say "...you'll take this money and LIKE it, buddy."

[uptohere]

19. kid's future is paid in full, bought flute lessons for her

don't know what flute teacher spent her money on.

[SoCalDem]

20. Seeing as how most baby boomers did NOT get one,

we did not spend ours.. :(

No kids at home, no payday loan"refund"...

[TrueBlueDem]

21. What friggin' tax refund?

I pay plenty of taxes, but I have no kids. So no refund for me(or, "advance," I should say, since that's what it really is).

At the same time, my Domestic Partner has two kids, but didn't pay much in taxes. So no tax refund advance for her, either.

In fact, the only person we know personally who got a tax refund advance is her sister. Both she and her husband make massive quantities of income, plus they have one kid.

We know lots of folks who could have used a few hundred buck and would've spent it readily on back-to-school stuff or paying off debts. But no checks came in the mail for them, either.

[Deja Q]

22. Yeah, what refund? And Bush has been saying all sorts of lies...

How he gives the rich a big-ass tax cut. It failed to do squat. So he gives them another one, using the same time-tested-as-a-whopping-failure excuse.

So much for the "jobloss" recovery.

Apart from clothing and food and fucking transportation, I'm finding it harder to contribute to this society on an ethical level, especially when the big corporations only care about money - not their employees. There's a bunch of DVDs coming out in the next couple months, but I no longer see why I should buy them. Especially if I lose my job come June.

[LWolf]

23. What refund?

No refund here.

[marigold20]

24. No "refund" here

.

[spooked]

25. Mmmmm... where did all the refunds go??

To the Rich friends of Bush?? No wonder the plan didn't jump-start the economy! Those people who actually NEEDED the money didn't get any!!

[CMT]

26. I think lots of people are using it to pay off debt

or saving for Christmas.

[xJlM]

27. I gave it to my Mom

The $300 "loan" we got back in 2001? I gave that to my Mom to use on the $500 worth of prescriptions she needs every month. I haven't seen anything further from those assholes, but then I've been unemployed for over eight months now.

[RetroLounge]

28. Yes I got one, $400 for each kid, but it's a loan, isn't it?

It will be added to next year's tax bill, right?

So I sent a portion of it to Howard Dean (Take that, Smirk) and paid off some debt with the rest...

[spooked]

29. What an AWESOME idea!!

Send your Republican tax refund to the DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE of your choice!!!
Wesley Clark, if you're reading this, I've got some money for you.

[Yavin4]

30. For Spooked, It's Good That You Put Your Refund In Your

kids' savings account because with these deficits they're going to be giving that right back to the government and then some more on top of that.

[blm]

31. 100 to Kucinich, 100 to Kerry, the rest to local food bank.

I really want freeping lurkers to know how that tax advance was used. I also wrote on the back of the check, Thankyou Bill Clinton.

[mourningdove92]

33. HaHaHa

tax refund???? Nope, not this middle aged lesbian. No tax refund for me.
but hey, btm and retrolounger....you guys ROCK.

[Yupster]

34. We all probably do

Regardless of what you did with your rebate check (mine went into kid's college fund), most of us are probably spending the extra $ 10-$ 20 a week we're getting in our paychecks. It's hard to set that aside. I'm not.

[Wendec]

35. Support the Dems

I didn't get a refund, just a significant reduction in my withholding. In fact, the reduction was so large, I called the Payroll guys to be sure it wasn't a mistake and then I went out to one of the tax cut sites to do the calculation as a second check.

Bottom line, I got a really big tax break that I neither deserve nor need. I'm single, no kids, and I got 4-digit tax break. How ridiculous is that? I am very, very fortunate to be in an income range where I can say that I don't need the money. When I saw my tax reduction I was absolutely infuriated. We can't fund essential programs but I get a tax break?

I immediately pledged my entire tax reduction for 2003 to a Democratic candidate, and I'll do the same for 2004 until I hit the contribution limit. Then I'll give it to the party and increase my contribution to the local homeless shelter. That's my modest monetary protest.

[JNelson6563]

36. too much debt

America is swimming in debt. Many can barely keep up with their payments. I did get a "refund" (read: advance) of $800.00 but it just went into general funds and went toward bills, groceries and gas, basic expenses. It did not incite wild spending sprees here or, apparently, around the country.

We do not carry hardly any debt but many do. For those in that situation I am sure the checks were used as catch up funds and probably some school clothes type spending. I believe that back-to-school spending may have been lower if not for the checks but, considering the actual consumer spending increase was only about half of what was expected, it did not provide the boost that was hoped for.

Figure in some 9 million unemployed, any of those who got checks probably paid rent and bought food.

It is as much a quagmire as the Iraq debacle.

Julie

[Blondie BaDass]

37. reply

Yes I did and enjoyed it very much thank you