A boost to stave off recession: too little too late?

On Feb 13th President Bush signed a new law into effect that is hoped to stave off recession within the United States economy. The law itself is called a “stimulus package” in which filing taxpayers in the 2007 tax season are eligible for some additional refunds that are intended to help bolster the economy to avoid the recession that appears to be coming. Economic analysts have been reported to generally be behind the idea and believe that this stimulus package will help avoid a recession. There are those who don’t believe this stimulus package will avert the recession crisis, as it is assumed that most Americans will use the additional funds to pay bills rather than put the money back into the economy. The refunds will be included in the amount that eligible taxpayers will be receiving as their refund for the 2007 tax season. The Internal Revenue Service states that all they taxpayers need to do is file their standard tax return and they will take care of the rest. The new law also takes into consideration low income taxpayers who may not qualify for a refund; if they make a minimum of $3,000 for the 2007 tax season they will qualify for at least $300 or $600 if filing as a couple. Children that are being claimed on tax returns also have the possibility of having at least $300 per child returned as well. For higher incomes such as $75,000 for individuals or $150,000 if filing jointly will have a 5% reduction of the amount and it is tailored those who have a higher income will receive less. All that is required to qualify for this is to at least make $3,000 annually, have a valid social security number, and to file their tax returns as usual. The payment schedule is due to begin in May at the conclusion of tax season and will continue up to December 31st, 2008 for those who file their returns later. The fastest means of receiving your refund is to have direct deposit information on file, but if you do not the payments will be mailed to you. For more information regarding this and any further updates, go to http://www.irs.gov/ . The IRS will contact taxpayers with updates and further information by mail, they state that they will not contact anyone by phone or email however. If you receive a phone call or email soliciting sensitive financial information claiming to be from the IRS do not give any of that information out, you can forward scams to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.