WHEN WILL REBATE CHECKS ARRIVE
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 -- 2:18 PM
It looks like tax rebate checks will be in the mail, but when will they arrive?Democrat and Republican congressional leaders reportedly reached agreement on a stimulus package Thursday that includes rebate checks of between $300 and $1,200.
Economists say the timing of the checks is crucial; if they come too late, it could drive up inflation. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) agrees, but the IRS may not be capable of getting the checks out quickly.
"It's astounding to me that we have a federal income tax system that's been in existence for 145 years, and they still can't do a quick turnaround," Kind laments.
While Kind has been told the checks could go out as soon as April, testimony on the Hill this week warned it might take until summer or early fall because of the IRS' "archaic" computer system.
Kind says lawmakers also ran into these problems when working on changes to the country's Alternative Minimum Tax.
"They were telling us it was going to take them months to process that, even though everyone knew, eventually, we were going to do that," Kind says.
As the old saying going goes: necessity is the mother of invention, and Kind thinks changes could be coming.
"These two measures are a wake-up call that we have to do more insight of the IRS to see why they are slow in reacting to changes of policy."
The IRS is not yet commenting when they feel the checks could be realistically dispersed.
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