I recently received a letter

I recently received a letter from the IRS informing me that I'll be receiving my tax-relief check that has been bequeathed to "tax paying Americans" by the benevolent congress and the kind President Bush.

One cool implication of that is that according to the IRS I am an American. Take that, INS, and eat your heart out! Well, I'm sure that's not what that means, but there is this implication that it's only americans that are paying the taxes here...

So the question is, what is the real meaning of this check? Have I paid too much money (it sure feels like it) and now the government has too much and is returning some of it? Well, not really (at least not the having too much of it part). Until recent ballanced budgets, the US Government has been running a defficing for a couple of decates and has accumulated quite a debt. A big portion of our taxes is actually going towards just paying the interest on this debt.

So if the government doesn't have too much money, where is the tax relief cash comming from? Well, the government is simply borrowing against future debt! It's as if the government was paying you a cash-advance from your own credit card account. Sure, it may not sound very fiscally responsible, but it fits well into the credit card culture and makes the people feel good (and "giving back to the people" sounds great during re-election campaigns). Besides, Panem et Circenses has an old an venerable tradition.