Returning Economic Stimulus Check [split from check discussion]

[Badandy]

By the way. I thought this might be a good time to mention that anyone who is very unhappy with how much of a deficit President Bush has allowed the US to go into with his increased spending and tax cuts should feel free to refuse their stimulus check and give it back to the government.




Badandy

[Badandy]

1. Let's keep this OT unless you want it moved to PRSI,

Alright, so I trust that a snide remark won't be made right after this.

2. Learn how the government works


Oops. I know enough of how government works to know that you can refuse your stimulus check and the government will not have to give that money to you. What else do I need to know? Again, I repeat:

If you are mad at President Bush for spending us into a hole through increased spending and tax cuts, feel free to refuse to cash your stimulus check. After all the grumbling about spending and tax cuts which will harm the future good of the country, it seems only logical.

Hypocritical much?

[it5five]

By the way. I thought this might be a good time to mention that anyone who is very unhappy with how much of a deficit President Bush has allowed the US to go into with his increased spending and tax cuts should feel free to refuse their stimulus check and give it back to the government.




Badandy

By the way. There was a thread on this subject in PRSI. Nobody in this thread had said anything political at all until you came in. If you want to discuss the political aspect of this, go here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=429923&highlight=stimulus+check) and do so. There is absolutely no reason to try and start anything in a completely non-political thread. The original, and subsequent posters, had merely asked about a delay in stimulus checks. All of your posts in this thread are completely off topic and deliberately inflammatory.

[Badandy]

Well now it is in PRSI.


Deliberately inflammatory? I say it ain't so. I'm just calling attention to what I think is a hypocritial stance:

If you are worried about how much money has been thrown away during this administration and with all the money spent on tax cuts/economic stimulus packages, feel free to give it back to the government, they'd be happy to take it.


What is everyone else's view on this? It seems to me that this is the flip side of the same dilemma when people accuse some on this site for wasting gas. They say that while someone wasting gas doesn't cause a dent in the overall consumption or prices, if we all banded together we could! Isn't this the same situation? Sure, another $500 back to the government might not do much, but what if everyone gave back their stimulus check?

[Gray-Wolf]

I plan on spending mine on bills. I pay enough in taxes as it is. Getting some back, does not hurt my feelings at all. ;)

[it5five]

Well now it is in PRSI.


Deliberately inflammatory? I say it ain't so. I'm just calling attention to what I think is a hypocritial stance:



A stance that nobody was taking in the original thread, which is why I and JohnNotBeatle took issue with you bringing up the subject in the first place.

[Badandy]

A stance that nobody was taking in the original thread, which is why I and JohnNotBeatle took issue with you bringing up the subject in the first place.

OK, well it's brought up. Let's discuss...

[atszyman]

Since I currently have no choice on where my taxes go, I'm going to assume that sending back my stimulus check will not exempt me (and my progeny) from paying that share of debt interest thus lowering our taxes when the debt comes due because we already paid our portion?


The debt currently sits at about $30,0000 for every man woman and child in the U.S. If I were to send the government my families $120,000 I'd still be responsible for the same taxes next year even though we've paid our portion of the debt.

As long as I'm going to be forced to subsidize everyone else's stimulus check why should I be denied mine? Yes it's fiscally irresponsible, but I don't have any control over the governments fiscal irresponsibility so why should I send them money they'll likely waste when I can stash it away and live with a little more wiggle room and some slight future security in this time of unstable prices everywhere?

[PlaceofDis]

i thought that if you didnt cash the check it was automatically credited to next years taxes?

[NC MacGuy]

Shucks, I'm not going to be stimulated in any way.....

[mactastic]

Well now it is in PRSI.


Deliberately inflammatory? I say it ain't so. I'm just calling attention to what I think is a hypocritial stance:

If you are worried about how much money has been thrown away during this administration and with all the money spent on tax cuts/economic stimulus packages, feel free to give it back to the government, they'd be happy to take it.


What is everyone else's view on this? It seems to me that this is the flip side of the same dilemma when people accuse some on this site for wasting gas. They say that while someone wasting gas doesn't cause a dent in the overall consumption or prices, if we all banded together we could! Isn't this the same situation? Sure, another $500 back to the government might not do much, but what if everyone gave back their stimulus check?
Conversely, if you believe government works best when it works least, by all means refuse your stimulus check.

Hypocritical much?

[Badandy]

Conversely, if you believe government works best when it works least, by all means refuse your stimulus check.

Hypocritical much?

Not in this context; I never said I accepted it.

[mactastic]

Not in this context; I never said I accepted it.
Well... have you? Or are you sending yours back?

[Badandy]

I have not accepted it, no.

I did not know, however, that if we refused it that it would be applied as a credit on next year's taxes. Any verification on this?

[mactastic]

I have not accepted it, no.

I did not know, however, that if we refused it that it would be applied as a credit on next year's taxes. Any verification on this?
If you're a fiscally responsible conservative, wouldn't the right thing to do be to pay more taxes than you actually owe? Someone's gotta take some personal responsibility for all the debt being run up by this administration...

[Badandy]

Now you're just being argumentative.

I want low taxes with greatly reduced spending, and I'm not about to give away free money to a government who has mismanaged it to begin with. Giving the government extra money is different than not accepting a reduction to our immediate share of the debt.

[Ugg]

I want low taxes with greatly reduced spending........

What are you willing to give up?

Education?
Highways?
Airports?
Military?

[Badandy]

What are you willing to give up?

Education?
Highways?
Airports?
Military?


Lower on everything you listed except highways. This thread isn't about what I want cut, it's about people who complain (and rightly so) about our deteriorated economic situation while still accepting money back that they had already paid to fix that. Do they think their $200 to $1000 refusal won't make an impact on goverment coffers?

[mpw]

Lower on everything you listed except highways....
You seriously value highways higher than education?

[Badandy]

You seriously value highways higher than education?

I think at the current funding, an extra dollar would help highways more than education. That's a topic for a different thread if you'd like. I don't want to get into it in detail here, but I thought I'd just give you a quick answer instead of leaving your question hanging there.

[Iscariot]

You seriously value highways higher than education?

Funding doesn't necessarily mean quality of education. The US spends a greater percentange of it's GDP on education than many nations with superior education systems.

[Badandy]

Funding doesn't necessarily mean quality of education. The US spends a greater percentange of it's GDP on education than many nations with superior education systems.

Exactly.

[PlaceofDis]

I have not accepted it, no.

I did not know, however, that if we refused it that it would be applied as a credit on next year's taxes. Any verification on this?

i am certain i read this somewhere, but i can't find any info on the IRS site about checks that are not cashed. sorry. i'll keep looking.

[CalBoy]

Funding doesn't necessarily mean quality of education. The US spends a greater percentange of it's GDP on education than many nations with superior education systems.

Indeed, and as someone who has spent a considerable amount of time as both a student and an educator (in fact, I'm teaching 5th and 6th grade students this summer), I can attest to the fact that most resources in American education are actually wasted through various bureaucratic processes.

Another sources of monetary drain is the obsession with gadgets. Very nice, and very sophisticated tools (such as smart boards) are sought by many districts, even if they don't add much to the classroom.

To put icing on the cake (so to speak), most education funding is incredibly inequitable. Poor districts are poor for a reason; they lack the tax base to generate the revenue to maintain facilities and hire better teachers (and yes, bad teachers exists in droves).

Even states like California, which redistributes education funding by pupil (as opposed to at the city or county level where wealth plays an even larger role), have problems with unequal districts. Various factors, such as reward-based funding (where high attendance rates or good standardized test results give districts extra funding), greatly hurt poorer districts because those children already have a harder time getting to school, and the fact that they underperform means that they'll be hurt again when their district doesn't receive funds from standardized testing.

But enough about that. :p

As for the original topic, I don't think that not cashing (or even returning) your check would have the impact you believe it would. For starters, the IRS doesn't simply hand the money back to the Treasury. The IRS keeps a running tab of funds which taxpayers have "overpaid" or "not collected."

The government would in essence get an interest-free "loan" for a period of time (up until the statute of limitations), but it isn't exactly going to work how one imagines it does.

As for the other ideas being bandied about here, I take the view that the stimulus was always a bad idea. It can't even provide a quick fix, let alone the long term solution to our very serious problems.

It would have been more prudent to take the $150 billion and either not spend it, or give out as many college scholarships as possible (say up to $50,000 per graduate, depending on school costs, or enough to supply a minimum of 3 million graduates with less debt and encourages long term interest in college).

We might have also put that money into Social Security to help stave off insolvency, or invested into the construction of more rail lines in urban areas.

Or we might have given every child below the poverty line two meals for quite some time.

Or upgrade aging infrastructure.

Essentially, on the list of opportunities and their costs, I think that the stimulus was the worst possible choice, however, I very much doubt that returning it would be very useful.

Perhaps it's best to pay off some debt (if any), and with the remainder, save it for a rainy day (for one is sure to come our way in the next 6-9 months).

[jessica.]

Shucks, I'm not going to be stimulated in anyway.....

I can arrange for some stimulation.
Just sayin'...I know people. :)

[Iscariot]

To put icing on the cake (so to speak), most education funding is incredibly inequitable. Poor districts are poor for a reason; they lack the tax base to generate the revenue to maintain facilities and hire better teachers (and yes, bad teachers exists in droves).


There's a reasonably strong correlation between child poverty rates and education level. Most of the nations with a higher level of education and literacy than the US also have a dramatically lower level of child poverty. But then, the percentage of children living in poverty in the United States is unbelievably appalling.

Canada ain't no bastion of happy youngins either.

[bigjnyc]

I think bush should be prosecuted for the way he ran this country into the ground and made the US dollar a joke when it was one of the strongest currencies in the world. The bush administration has single-handedly destroyed this country with greed and idiotic decisions. Not to mention that the president cant even formulate a sentence let alone run a country.

PS: i dont qualify for a stimulus check.

[Badandy]

I think bush should be prosecuted for the way he ran this country into the ground and made the US dollar a joke when it was one of the strongest currencies in the world. The bush administration has single-handedly destroyed this country with greed and idiotic decisions. Not to mention that the president cant even formulate a sentence let alone run a country.

PS: i dont qualify for a stimulus check.


I HATE Ego waffles and think that Belgian waffles are far better, both in the height of their ridges to hold in butter and syrup, and in their taste.

[Don't panic]

I HATE Ego waffles and think that Belgian waffles are far better, both in the height of their ridges to hold in butter and syrup, and in their taste.

:D:D:D i myself am partial to pancakes. hey look! it stopped raining!

[Gelfin]

I HATE Ego waffles

These waffles, your mother made them for you, yes? Tell me about her and perhaps we may explore the roots of your neurosis. Despite your anxiety, your actualization depends upon coming to grips with these Ego waffles, for their delicious golden ridges help to contain both your Id syrup and Superego butter into a healthy, complete breakfast of mental health.

[CorvusCamenarum]

:D:D:D i myself am partial to pancakes. hey look! it stopped raining!

With blueberries.

[atszyman]

:D:D:D i myself am partial to pancakes. hey look! it stopped raining!

With blueberries.

It was raining blueberries?... Oooh! Look! a penny!

[solvs]

I don't even know if I'm getting one, though I thought I would. I should have already gotten one, but when I look on the IRS's site, it says I can't be found. If I do get one, I'd probably donate it somewhere I feel the gov is lacking. Like a children's hospital or vets charity or something. I'd rather the gov just better spend the money, but that won't happen.