Stimulus Package Gives Families $65 a Month Tax Break: Don’t Spend It All In One Place
By April 1st, most workers will see a reduction in taxes withheld due to the $787 billion economic stimulus package, but unfortunately, the extra $65 a month for a family of four isn’t going to go very far.
It’s certainly not going to make the payment on a new car or house, but tax breaks on those purchases are also being touted as an important part of the stimulus package. And it’s not going to keep your mortgage payment current.
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Other tax breaks, for parents of college students, might help those who are eligible and willing to go to school, but based on the number of underemployed college graduates we have in the US right now, I find it hard to believe that these credits are going to have a lasting impact on most families or on the economy. Besides, you still have to come up with tuition, books, room and board for those students. How is that going to help, unless you sell text books or rent apartments to students?
Perhaps the most effective part of the stimulus package tax credits for families will be for homeowners who add energy-efficient windows, furnaces, water heaters, and air conditioners. They can get a tax credit to cover 30 percent of the costs incurred, up to a total of $1,500. Even with this credit, you have to come up with the other 70%, and you do have to own the house. Not much help for the renters…
The Stimulus Package numbers, straight from Recovery.gov:
$288 billion … Tax Relief*
$144 billion … State and Local Fiscal Relief*
$111 billion … Infrastructure and science
$81 billion … Protecting the Vulnerable
$59 billion … Health Care
$53 billion … Education and Training
$43 billion … Energy
$8 billion … Other[* Where "Tax Relief" includes $15 billion for Infrastructure and Science, $61 billion for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 billion for Education and Training and $22 billion for Energy, so total funds are $126 billion for Infrastructure and Science, $142 billion for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 billion for Education and Training, and $65 billion for Energy. *State and Local Fiscal Relief - Prevents state and local cuts to health and education programs and state and local tax increases.]
For those families with children, the $1,000 child tax credit would apply to more low-income families that don’t earn enough to pay income taxes, and low-income families with three or more children will be eligible for an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
My personal feeling on this is that the stimulus package will benefit private enterprise more than private citizen, and if you’re lucky enough to replace your current or lost job with one working for the infrastructure projects, then it may benefit you. I certainly don’t think that building more roads is going to help (unless you’re a contractor), and as far as the new car tax credit goes? You gotta be kidding me.
As for me? I can benefit more by parking my car and not driving it, by making food instead of eating out, and in general, just saving my money instead of spending it.
So what I really want to know from you is:
Where are you going to spend your extra $65 a month?
Image: Recovery.org under Creative Commons
Yeah, why bother, eh?
Since I am fortunate enough not to need the increase, I will use it to help those that do. I will use it to increase my monthly donation to the local charitable food pantry.
Well, since I’m a single person, I won’t even be receiving that much per month so it will make NO difference to me. LOL, it will probably shoot me up an income tax bracket and cost me money in the long run. I agree, don’t spend your money-that’s the only way to have more of it.
I think I’m going to need to spend it on mental health care since this whole thing makes me so incredibly CRAZY!
i am self employed and out of work , soi what do they send me 13 dollars a week. i think the taxpayers should get thousand’s of dollars each for stimulus for look our goverment and wall streel riped us off for a lot more than 13 dollars a week , it is an insult , treating us like dummies and giving us a allowance.
and where dose all the toll bridge money and toll road money and gas tax money go that is suppposed to be used to keep up our roada and bridges
very upset being treated like this . obama is a smart man and anyone who isnt as smart must be stupid to him
13 dollars a week is such a joke
The current deficit is 54 trillion dollars. We had a deficit in all the years that Bill Clinton was in office. We have had a deficit since WW2.
We were broke back then. It took a war to end the Great Depression.
We had full employment finally only because if you weren’t working an Industry supporting the nation or the war effort, you were getting shot at. So unless we have Armageddon this crisis is going to be with us forever. We have had a deficit since before most of you were born.
We have Never had a budget surplus. Never. In the Clinton years, the final two, it was announced there was a budget surplus only so the House Democrats could spend it. They were not counting all the money they borrowed from Social Security, or for that matter to fight Hitler.
We will never pay off all we owe. Anyone who tells you different is lying.
All you have to do is read their lips.
We are now financialy screwed. Our kids are really screwed. And our grandchildren are absolutely F*&$ed. I mean geez, our 4th biggest expenditure in this country is the intrest on our debt. Not the entire debt mind you, just the interest. The national debt — the sum of all annual budget deficits — stands at $10.7 trillion. Or about $36,000 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and yet only our politicians are moronic enough to keep borrowing. The real economic killer is the lack of jobs and this bill provides almost nothing but temporary jobs instead of trying to get all of those permenant jobs back that went overseas.
And let’s not forget that it was Clinton who REQUIRED banks to make sub prime loans to those who could not afford it which is the #1 reason the housing market collapsed. And it was Clinton who championed free trade which has done nothing but export our manufacturing jobs overseas. The Democrats trashed the economy for some lousy short term gains.
BTW Chris, as you can see I’m not an Obama fan either but you need to get your facts straight. The deficit was only $10.7 trillion (ONLY being a relative word) and the deficit didn’t really begin to get out of control until the Reagan years. Even then it was still managable but only in recent times has it spun out of control.
I am going to use it to help offset my state tax increases.
As a single guy, if the feds save me $30/month, my California tax increases are lessened by half.
This is just what the doctor ordered! Change, Yeah that’s it A real change we can believe in! The only thing funnier is that they lead the dumb, stupid and deaf right to the slaughter house. Yea The Dems sucker us right in. $13.00 a week. Hey stupid Don’t spend it all in one place!
G gettem!
“I am going to use it to help offset my state tax increases.”
Ditto. That is assuming that we even get the tax break in the first place rather than hit with the AMT again like we did for ‘08.