Focus
on Washington
We're
in the Money! An HFH Special Report:
How Americans Will Use Their Tax Rebate
Plus an HFH
Exclusive: A copy of the first draft of the President
George W. Bush's
letter to American Taxpayers
July 2001
$300
Tax Rebate Is the Stuff of Dreams for Some
by Max Wavering
NEW YORK – Shaena Gotmine is
back in her Upper East Side penthouse after a month in her summer home in
Tuscany and she’s faced with a dilemma: What should the 32-year-old interior
design consultant do with her $300 tax rebate?
“There’s so many things I want – I mean $300 won’t even cover one
session with my aroma therapist,” she said.
“Maybe a half a day’s supply of goat-adrenaline extract,” suggested
visiting friend Lars Lance, a Beverly Hills parrot psychiatrist, who refused to
disclose how the hormone is used.
As Internal
Revenue Service letters – costing a reported $90 million – announce the
checks are in the mail, consumers are already spending the money. When pressed
on their plans for the windfall, Americans are showing a wide range of
purchasing preferences that reflect their varied tastes and financial
situations. The rebate – up to $300 for single, and $600 for married people
– is the most tangible part of the record 10-year, $1.35 trillion tax cut
passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, who hailed
the bill as “the greatest achievement you’ll ever see from this
administration.”
I’m not even waiting for the
check,” confessed.Betty Bottoms, a 27-year-old housewife, as she shopped at
Kmart in Borax, Ohio. “I’m a Republican, so I may be a little biased, but
this is better than I ever imagined President Bush would do for us regular
folks. I already hit the blue-light
special for some 12-packs of lamp coasters and still have enough for a gallon of
cooking oil and a family pack of AAA batteries – plus a little something for
myself,” she said, adding, “it’s my secret guilty pleasure.”
“I did not vote for him –
and would not if I could,” said Manhattanite Horst Ooofmann, 31, a resident
alien who calls himself an “inert sculpture artist.” “I have a studio loft
in Soho and my rent has been mercilessly elevated,” he said.
“The pitiful 300 American bucks will cover all of today’s, and
perhaps tomorrow morning’s oppressive tribute; now I must concentrate on my
creativity,” said Ooofmann, turning back to his latest opus: “The Whine of a
Yellow Cream Doughnut” – a contorted tower of beheaded ravens and rusty
planetary gears pulled from car axles in an upstate junkyard. “Perhaps I’d
get this kind of art subsidy back in Germany,” he added, “but who would
expect such socialistic largess – especially from the right-wing regime you
have here.”
But 1,500 miles from New York,
in the Heartland, the $300 will be spent on something very different by Frank
Purdy, 51, who lives off the Interstate 70 Business Loop in Burlap County,
Kansas. “Yep,” said the unemployed father of twelve “Combining mine with
the wife’s share, I’m gonna pick up some radiator sealant.
Then I’m using the rest to stock up on those Slim Jims at the Wal-Mart
up by Tittersville – They got the Slam Sale going up there, and now I won’t have to miss
out on it, thanks to the president. If
I ever get to voting one of these times,’ he’ll be getting mine – every
time he runs,” said Purdy.
Some see the money as a chance
to live their dreams: Hammerbutt, West Virginia native Bill Stodgy has a plan.
“I’ll be taking my 300 and getting me liquor and some boxes of shells
– then I’m going to get ugly-drunk
and indulge in some fine rat hunting down by the county dump.”
Others will use the bonanza
for self-improvement: “Since my HMO doesn’t cover cosmetic procedures,
this’ll help for my down payment on the deluxe buttocks-and-tummy-tuck
package,” said Lorna, a Claptrap, Nevada poodle groomer who would not disclose
her age or last name.
Back in the Bronx, Montezuma
Perez, 20, knows where his check is going. “I just lost my job at Burger King
and didn’t know how I could afford to feed my albino python.
That’ll get me about 10 dozen feeder mice,” he said. “Man, I’d
hate to lose my pet – she’s a great way to meet the ladies when I go
clubbing.”
Duke Pisser, 37, of Blunder,
Wyoming, sees the rebate as an entrepreneurial opportunity:
“I have a place and a few acres I don’t use much since I moved back
in with my mom in town, so I’m buying seven or eight barrels of crude oil and
a huge plastic bladder, and starting my own strategic reserve. Then when it all comes tumbling down,” said Pisser, “Mom
and I will be sitting pretty.”
Flotilla
Johnson, 38, of Gawkin, Mississippi, has her own vision of sitting pretty.
“I think I’ll get me a new house in a safe middle class
neighborhood,” said the single mother of five.
“Or maybe I can use it to pay for my baby’s college educations so a
new generation can get out of this poverty we’ve all been suffering.”
When reminded she is living so far below the poverty line that she
doesn’t qualify for a rebate, she said, “Never mind then, my vote went to
Gore anyway – at least I think I did.”
White House Wallpaper
Pres. Bush's Personal Checklist
HFH Interviews Pres. George W. Bush
Why They Voted for Bush -- The Final
Poll Numbers
Back to Archives Page
Return to the top of page
Home
