Will The Tax Rebate Checks Really Help Our Economy

Will the Tax Rebate Checks Really Help Our Economy?

Recent surveys indicate that only about 25% of Americans eligible to receive the tax rebate checks would actually spend the money as it was hoped that they would. So the question is will this multi-billion dollar bill actually help the economy?

Before the tax rebate bill was eventually passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, there were several provisions that dropped. There were items added to give additional energy assistance to low income households, possible tax breaks to many energy suppliers and e3ven a proposal to an immediate extension of unemployment benefits. All of these additional provisions were eventually dropped.

Though the bill was finally passed, with many of the politicians falling all over themselves patting each other on the back for a job well done, it still goes to question whether it will mean as much as it was intended. Random surveys were conducted on those who would be the targeted recipients of these checks, and the responses were eye opening.

They found out that about 26% of those surveyed said that would not be spending their tax rebate checks.

An astounding 46% stated that they would most likely use most if not all of the money to pay off some of their present debt.

Another 28% said that they planned on saving the money.

So essentially, most of the money earmarked to stimulate the economy will actually stimulate credit lenders instead.

Currently Americans owe more than a staggering $945 billion dollars in credit card debt. This means that now Americans collectively hold a total debt of $2.5 trillion dollars, which is an all time record high. On a positive note is that recent statistics indicate that this type of debt spending (spending more than your income) has slowed down somewhat in recent months. Congress and the President are actually betting against it with this tax rebate check mailing.