Thursday, January 24, 2008

Memo to Congress

MEMO

To: Congress

Re: Tax "Rebate" Checks

I have heard a rumor that you are planning to send out tax rebate check later this year. I would like to request that you keep mine and put it towards the absurd tax check that we will be sending to the IRS later this Spring, thus saving our government the cost of printing and postage of my rebate check.

I would also like to suggest a better name for the program. "Rebate" makes it sound like I'm sending in a proof of purchase and getting reimbursed a portion of the purchase price. Perhaps a more accurate term would be "tax advance," since the last time you did this you expected me to pay it back to you the following April. I have never had anyone else ask for their rebate back a year later.

I understand that your intention in sending me this check is for me to turn around and spend it, thus boosting the economy. Perhaps a better approach would be to send the check directly to Best Buy, as I do not plan on taking it there myself. I plan to boost my personal economy by using it either towards my mortgage payoff or, shockingly, the ridiculous tax estimates we will be making each quarter for the next year. Again, it would be simpler to just credit our account internally.

This may be a good time to consider the cause of the economic slowdown and the fact that it might not be a bad thing. It was rampant over-spending, much on credit, that inflated the economy to begin with. It may be time to encourage people to SAVE rather than SPEND in order to build a stronger long term economy. Just something to think about.

Thank you.

P.S. If you have to give us "rebates" on our taxes every few years to boost the economy, perhaps you should consider taking less from us to begin with. Again, just a suggestion.

(I'll get down off the soapbox now, I've been bouncing up and down on it for a week already and my feet are getting tired.)

6 comments:

Stacey said...

P.S. If you have to give us "rebates" on our taxes every few years to boost the economy, perhaps you should consider taking less from us to begin with. Again, just a suggestion.

voteforronpaulandthisisexactlywhatwillhappen

Dang it, won't someone come up with a cure for my Ron Paul Tourette's? It flares up during nearly every conversation!

Susan said...

Dr. Paul would still have to get through Congress to make anything happen. Therein lies the problem. OOOH. I forgot to post one of my favorite quotes from the FoxNews article today (proving the point about Congress being financial loonies):

"Reid said senators would want to look at add-ons including the unemployment extension and possibly money for highway projects."

HIGHWAY PROJECTS???? what the...

mayberry said...

ROFL

From the Doghouse said...

I can't help but wonder the same thing when people freak about home construction going down. You know, maybe everyone in that area has a house now ...

AM said...

maybe they were building crapp houses and people came to their senses and realized that they were WAY more expensive than they should be and would require lots of repairs....or maybe people like living in debt, buying big vehicles and having credit cards coming out of their ears rather than being a homeowner....

My bets on either of the above....

Susan said...

Don't get me started on the housing market. The Bill of Rights does not include the right to own an expensive house, but from watching the news lately you'd sure think it did!

It's not a popular opinion, but I don't think a recession is the worst thing that could happen to our economy. I think continuing to over-spend and rack up higher amounts of debt, as a nation, is going to do a lot more harm. By fighting off every recession, we're just making the eventual crash that much bigger. We can't sustain the monster we've created.