The Comptons

Is anyone planning to use the tax refund check for an extra travel experience? Or pay the credit card bill for the last trip? Or what?

Bob

LOL, yes! Our $600.00 is going towards our trip to Kauai in October. Our 3 night condo rental bill at Kuhio Shores is around $643, comes pretty close to covering that. Thank you George!

ilisa

Nice idea, but our $600 is going to pay for the crown I am having put in. Sigh.

sss

We already owe Uncle Sam because we exercised that rare privilege of using our own money (IRA) to buy a house, so now we owe. We'll never see that $600. *sigh*

diane

Yes--I am going to use my $600 to help pay for my trip to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons with all three of my married kids. Thanks, George the Second! I also have a huge dental bill pending (would that it were only $600!), but I refuse to think of my tax refund going toward THAT.

X

I love to travel and guess if I have to receive a check, that means my husband and I can take a long weekend getway next month. However, I will never thank Bush for giving me that check as I shudder to think what worthwile program he cut back on to dole out these checks. No I'm definitely not rich (very middle class, husband has blue collar job and I have a white collar job with 2 kids) but I'm sure there are people out there who need the benefits of htat money more than me!

curious

Wow, you must be psychic! My husband and I were holding that little IRS love note last night trying to decide between a weekend in Napa or Santa Fe!

abc

Unfortunately, our $600 refund will help finish paying off our Italy trip last month. Oh well, we can start saving for next year!

Kathy

I'm saving the $600 for when W has to increase taxes again after this ridiculous exercise in wasting money and the time of IRS employees who, God knows, could have used this time to learn how to deal properly with customers.

xx

I'm posting this anonymously in order to avoid emotional feedback - sorry.

I work for a charitable organization dealing with homeless families and children. This year, because of the economic slowdown, our income from charitable giving is way down compared to years before, and we are having to curtail services (and we're pretty efficient as it is, so there's not a lot of slack to cut.) Our local United Way is experiencing similar shortfalls, and we understand this is a national problem.

I for one didn't expect a bonus from the feds this year, nor do I support a federal policy which cuts funding for social services for homeless pregnant women or their newborns (I can cite real programs and real people and real dollar examples, not urban legend tales) in order to distribute unanticipated checks around the country. It bugs me when I think of all the folks who'll end up buying (made in Korea) TVs or - believe me, no disrespect - trips overseas, where those dollars end up supporting somebody else's economy (unless they're spent at McDonalds in Tokyo, which I guess indirectly helps poor people in Boston.)

I truly don't want to bum people out, and I love travel as much as the next person. But can I make a suggestion? If you itemize your tax deductions, as I suspect most of the US readers of this forum do, consider allocating a part of your tax rebate (maybe all of it if you can) to charitable giving instead of using it all on purchases or trips? If you really didn't expect it in January (who did?) and therefore it's something of a windfall, consider the benefit it might bring to agencies whose income has tanked, or how good you'll feel by adding a little Christmas in July to someone's life. If you DO itemize, you'll get a charitable deduction for the amount you contribute, so you end up getting something back regardless.

Thanks for considering this. Happy summer to all.

I. Love Dubbya

I have been anticipating my tax cut for 8 years. I have been waiting for Slick to go and a Republican Prez to step up to the plate and give the overtaxed American people some of their money back. Just how much is enough for Washington? There is no end to want they want and could spend if it is in their hands. Maybe it is "only" six hundred dollars but it is $600 that I feel I can spend better than Uncle Sam. If anyone doesn't want theirs, give it away but don't begrudge the people who want to keep some of their own money.

xxx

I look at those stacks of checks and believe I would rather have prescription drugs for seniors, head start programs and more open space in the Arctic.. sorry but $300.00 barely buys a new set of tires.

Brian

I paid 56 friggin' percent in taxes last year (state, local, national) and have averaged between 48 and 56 the past 5 years.
Anyone who wants to whine about the tax cuts being unnecessary can bite me.
As for the 'wealthy' benefitting more from these tax cuts, who the heck do you think is PAYING the vast majority of the taxes in the first place???

I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm simply saying that those who pay a lot of taxes have been taking it in the shorts for years now, so the whiners need to just back off for 4 years and let things even out a little. You had your way for most of the 90's.

Anon

The wealthy may pay more taxes in overall dollar amount, but the percentage is not much higher than that of the middle class. IMHO the rich should pay a much higher percentage, they'll still be making much more money than I after tax! Besides to someone that rich, what is $600 anyway?

xyxy

Maybe the "suffering rich" can use their $600.00 to buy air and animals after all the existing ones are killed off by bad planning and blatant disregard.

bbbb

From The Onion..........
Bush Trying To Decide How To Spend His Tax Refund
WASHINGTON, DC--Four days after signing a $1.35 trillion tax-cut bill, George W. Bush spent Monday trying to decide how he will spend his $300 refund check. "Maybe I'll buy some new wireless speakers," said the excited president, flipping through a Sharper Image catalog. "Or maybe I could get this massage chair." After noting the massage chair's $720 price tag, Bush said he "wouldn't rule out" passing an additional $1.9 trillion cut to get the extra $420.

No Bleeding Heart

Already give quite a bit to charity. This $600 check might be the only thing I'll ever get back. Am going to use it for something special.

Selfish? Maybe. But there's no way I'll return it to people who are already feeding off my tax dollars.

john

Heeeeccckk yea!!! I'm spending the 6 bills as fast as I can get it. Going to go to New Orleans for a weekend and eat and drink it all up!!!!! Not much but surely I can gain an extra 10 pounds and a few hang overs.

NiceGuy

Did you know that some states are planning to charge tax on the tax refund! Guess they need more money for those programs.

curious

EXCUSE ME anon, but the wealthy should pay a higher percentage because they still will have more money than you??????? Give me a break! Even our children pay taxes (and they don't even qualify for the refund because they are dependents!). Our reward for hard work and the discipline to save for our kids educations is to tax us even more? Well how about this, I think everyone should be taxed the exact same percentage. That sounds fair to me. Think about it, if you had your way a person could struggle and toil to earn a bigger salary only to be left with less income after taxes. Makes a lot of sense.