tax rebate "stimulus package"

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
So it looks like it's official, just signed, everybody gets a "tax rebate".
However, in reading this article here
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/08/economic.stimulus/index.html
they point out that it is actually an *advance* on next year's taxes. E.g., the amount will be reduced from how much you get next year.
I know this is premature for discussion, but it really got me thinking. Anybofy have more detailed info on this?
At first it sounds great, but this sounds more like an involuntary loan to me, not a rebate at all. A rebate would be being refunded money you've already paid.
I plan it so I pay just about right at tax time, don't normally get more than about $300 back. Does this mean we'd OWE $1200? That'd suck.
If this is the case, then the smart thing to do would be to NOT spend it (whcih is the opposite of what they want??)b ut rather to invest/save it so you can repay next year, or at least get what you normally do in April....?
 
thats what ive been thinking. i heard on the radio today that the bill got blocked and will only get passed for seniors and veterans. i only heard part of the convo but the whole thing is starting to sound not so much like good news for me.

i would be in the same boat as you. IF thats the way it works, technically it would be a prebate so im not sure why they call it a rebate.
 
It's all BS anyway. If they wanted to help stimulate the economy, they'd cut the corporate rate, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and slash Fed spending.

This is just an election year gimmick.

And yeah, I don't ever get anything back from the Feds. I think we owe $85 this year.
 
saf-t scissors said:
And yeah, I don't ever get anything back from the Feds. I think we owe $85 this year.
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That would sound like you have set your taxes up like they should be. That is what you want.
I always owe money never get money back and if I do it has never been but a few $. You never want the fed or state to have your money and use it for free. You want there money and use it for free. there has been times that I have owed 3000 to 4000 and had it invested all year making money for me all year. I just pay it at the end of the year. Yes I get a nasty letter but then the next few years I change it so I owe only a few hundred or so. But if you get back 2000 or more then the Fed and state are using you and your money for free and if that is what you like then let me know...... I would like to use your money make 8%-15% and then give it back at the end of the year just like the feds....:rolleyes:

BTW you will be paying taxes on any rebate Fed and state as income in next years taxes, thats what it is, income being paid to you for the feds.
 
Its a prebate...not a rebate which is why it is cut from next years.
 
Well, it sounded good at first, but now it doesn't so much...

I used to set my taxes up so that I owed nearly 100% at the end of the year. I'd take the $$$ and save it and make more $$$ on my taxes, then pay at the end of the year. This year I ended up switching it back to have some taxes deducted from my check (better half wanting it "easier" for her...)

Anyway, looks like I'll have to change my "claims" with my employer to compensate for the prebate.
 
Same crap they pulled a few years ago when we all got the prebate checks...Same stupit chit.
 
lomodyj said:
Same crap they pulled a few years ago when we all got the prebate checks...Same stupit chit.
Click to expand...
So refresh me on how that all worked out? I was young and foolish and didn't really pay attention...
and actually I hadn't really been paying attention to this round either, figured I'd just stick it in the bank, but this sounds pretty crappy (which shouldn't surprise me)
Any concise summary of how this all will affect this, and I guess next year?
 
i remember the last prebate but dont recall getting a check, kinda figured thats the way it was gonna be this time too.
 
Yeah its just an interest free loan aginst next years taxes. I'll stick mine in the bank or with intrest rates what they are now a jar in the back yard would be just as good. I'll have to play with my witholdings or wind up paying again next year and I hate to pay at the end of the year.
Mr. Gadget you sir are doing alot better than me if your still getting 8%-15%.
 
Ok, so CNN has now chnged their story. CLASSIC.

Copied below.

..........................
Do I have to pay the rebate back?

No. And here's why.

Your rebate is a one-time tax cut - an advance on a credit you'll receive on your 2008 return.

It's based on your 2007 income initially. If it turns out that your 2008 income and number of children would have qualified you for a larger rebate than the one you received, you'll be sent the difference. If it turns out your 2008 income was lower than in 2007 and you should have gotten a lower rebate, you get to keep the difference.

"If you were supposed to receive a larger payment than you did, you will get the extra money," said Treasury spokesman Andrew DeSouza. "If you received more than what you should have gotten, you will not be penalized."

IOW - it's NOT a laon.
Now we can all go back to planning what needless 4x4 modsd the $$ will be spent on.
 
MR. GADGET said:
That would sound like you have set your taxes up like they should be.
Click to expand...

Well, yes and no. I'm just satisfied that we don't owe them a damned fortune at the end of the year. Two years ago, we were pretty close to owing penalties as well.
 
my dad said that the rebate that they give now is coming out of the taxes you would be getting in 2009...i haven't had time to read up about it yet.

just thought i'd share that little bit of info
 
.....bush is an asshat anyways......its all bureocratic bs.....you see the bill he wants passed for a hell of a lot of money for the defense's.....heard on the news it was somewhere around 3 trillion dollars???!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope i heard wrong...but last time i checked we had a HUGE debt for our country anyways
 
redneckjeep87 said:
.....bush is an asshat anyways......its all bureocratic bs.....you see the bill he wants passed for a hell of a lot of money for the defense's.....heard on the news it was somewhere around 3 trillion dollars???!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hope i heard wrong...but last time i checked we had a HUGE debt for our country anyways
Click to expand...

you must watch MSNBC.


get your fact straights and stay on topic. Bush is actually spending alot less on defense than almost all of he predecessors. Only about 600 billion of that 3 trillion is going to the pentagon. And thats only about an 8% increase. Bush is actually spending alot less on defense than almost all of his predecessors.

Analyst have predicted washington to be operating in the black by 2012.


The tax breaks and stimulus plans is what is going to drive that recovery.
 
BigRedB2 said:
Analyst have predicted washington to be operating in the black by 2012.
QUOTE]

Just a quick reminder - we WERE in the black just a few years ago. It's easy to come up w/ an aggressive plan now, when you're on the way out the door and don't have to be in place to deal with the consequences.

Okay, okay, enoug hof the political bickering, not appropriate here.

So now the magic question - what will you do with your $$?
(Maybe that should be a new thread)
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pay the taxes i owe this year, lol.

kidding, i did rather well on taxes this year, gotta love mileage reimbursement.

going sell the house so im pretty sure the money is going to get sunk in with the rest of the remodeling money.
 
Just to fix a few things here on the rebate check from a few years ago. In that case a new tax bracket was created, thus meaning LOWER taxes for everyone that actually paid tax.

Before that change, lowest bracket was 15% for the first10,000

After the change, 0-10,000 was changed to 10% or so. So assuming you made over 15k in taxable income, your tax went from $1,500 to $1,000. Thus creating a $500 tax reduction for you.

They then sent everyone that appeared to have qualified, their $500. Married filing jointly just got one check if I remember right, has been a while since I worked thru the details.

I have not seen the details of this new stimulus package but I suspect it will be similar in detail so that either the rate has changed for a certain block of income or the tax tables themselves will be changed. In either case you will have the cash and zero net effect on your normal return.

In other words if you are used to paying $85, chances are you will still pay $85, etc. If they did NOT send you the cash AND changed the tables/rates as mentioned about, you would THEN have gotten a $1115 refund if you normally paid $85 as a couple. So instead they are sending the $1200 now..


Oh...and I am buying a Warn Winch, probably M8000 with my part of the stimulus...
 
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