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Retailers Shouldn’t Expect a Bump in Sales from IRS Rebate Checks

by Susan Gunelius on March 24th, 2008

Although President Bush created the IRS rebate check program this year to stimulate the economy, I don’t think anyone believed it would work, did they? With the economy in the trash can, it seemed fairly obvious that an extra $600 or $1200 wasn’t going to go toward shopping sprees this year. Turns out the assumptions of everyone but Bush were correct. The majority of Americans will not be hitting their local malls with the rebate checks.

Results from a CNN and Opinion Research Corp. poll that asked Americans what they plan to spend their rebate checks on were released today. Here’s the breakdown:

• 41% of respondents plan to use their rebates to pay off bills
• 32% of respondents plan to put their rebates into savings accounts
• 21% of respondents plan to spend their rebates
• 3% of respondents plan to donate their rebates to charity

So much for the $120 billion that the rebates supposedly put into the hands of individuals in the hopes of getting them to spend and boost the economy. I’m not political, but from a business and marketing perspective, this economic stimulus package smells a lot like a stall tactic to me rather than a resolution to a huge problem.

What do you think?

Photo Source: Flickr

Tags: IRS rebate, IRS rebate checks, economic stimulus, retail branding

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POSTED IN: Retail Branding