current events question #2

[snugglekitty]

King George plans to sign a bill called Stimulus that would send many of us tax rebates. Here's an interesting Salon piece on that.

I invite you all to answer the question posed by Mr. Leonard, right here in this journal - if you do receive money in this way, what do you plan to do with it? The increments seem to be $300 if you don't pay any income taxes, $600 if you do and you're single, $1200 for married couples up to some income limit that isn't clear to me.

Comments

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

We're in the middle of fixing up our house to sell. I'm sure any rebate will get plowed into that if it arrives in time. New garage doors? Flooring for the kitchen? Something like that.

[hanseth.livejournal.com]

I'll second what Leonard is going to do -- use it to pay off credit card debt. Along with my big fat tax rebate. Actually, between the two, my credit card will be well on the way to being paid off.

[redjo.livejournal.com]

Thirded ... paying off my recent vacation.

[mangosteen]

It will either be:
1. Dumped into savings/investments (bad citizen, I know)
2. Put towards some electrical work we've been meaning to do on the house.

I'm currently leaning towards the first.

[elkor.livejournal.com]

up to some income limit that isn't clear to me.

$300 if you made at least $3k and didn't pay taxes.
$600 if you paid taxes, are single and earned less than $75k.
$1200 for married couples earning up to $150k.

what do you plan to do with it?
Probably use part of it to pay for DO:SC.

The other half will go towards furniture for the house.

But, that's only because I project I won't have any credit card debt by then (I don't currently).

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Is this based on 2006 income or 2007 income?

[elkor.livejournal.com]

Is this based on 2006 income or 2007 income?

It is based on 2007 income when it is disbursed.

However, it is factored into your 2008 taxes. So if your 2008 income exceeds the limits, it will affect your tax situation next year.

i.e. if you made less than $75k in taxable income in 2007, you will get the rebate at the full amount.
However, if your 2008 actual taxable income is more than $75k, then your taxes will increase to compensate.

(Note that taxable income is your after-deduction income, not the "Gross" income)

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Thanks for explaining. :)

[veek.livejournal.com]

Well, given that we didn't pay any taxes last year (the joys of fellowship + self-employment), it would just all go right back to taxes. But hypothetically, if I had $300 drop into my lap, and I were employed, I'd add a bit to that and buy an iPhone. If I were [still] not employed, I'd spend some of it ($100ish?) on clothes at Garment District that actually fit, possibly buy a couple of bras that actually fit, and put the rest away for a bit.

[lady-anemone.livejournal.com]

Based on my understanding of the bill and my own financial situation, I don't expect to get money back. (As someone who is self-employed doing work that is not lucrative, tax refunds and rebates of all sorts are mostly things that happen to other people.) If I had, though, I would probably have put in a bit extra and gotten a new laptop.

[fraterrisus]

it goes straight into the "pay fraterrisus's rent this summer" fund.

to hoard or spend

[trouble4hire.livejournal.com]

I got a big bonus check last year, so I have already experienced the "what do I do with this money" question recently. I'm doing pretty well for savings, and I just made a big electronic purchase. I'll probably use extra cash to go on vacations with my sweeties, or buy organizational things for my house. We have dreams of bookshelves everywhere. Of course, the temptation to sock every last bit away for a rainy day is very strong.

[clonetwin.livejournal.com]

I'll use it to pay down my credit card debt.

[artemis44.livejournal.com]

We're hopefully buying a house this summer, so it will go towards that, either closing costs or to replenish our "rainy day" fund that will certainly be needed to handle varoius house repairs after we move in. Nothing we weren't going to be doing already, so it really won't have the stimulus effect from our end, but every penny counts when buying a house in Massachusetts!

If we were NOT buying a home, I'd probably lobby to use it as a vacation/travel fund for hte next year...

[any-contingency.livejournal.com]

I intend to put it all toward buying back my drivers license.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend lives in California. All my extra money goes towards travel.

[girliegoalie.livejournal.com]

Pick up much needed items: Sofa & Mattress, may get sofa from thrift store.

Pay down debt with leftovers.