In a package offered by congress and approved by President Bush to help the U.S. economy, approximately 117 million families will receive tax rebates that will hopefully give the country’s economy the stimulus it so desperately needs. Rebate checks will be between $600 and $1,200 and in some cases more depending on the amount of children within the family.The rebate breakdown is as follows: individuals will receive $600, working couples will receive $1,200, and couples with children will receive an additional $300 per child. The package will also help businesses. Business owners, including small business, will be able to increase the percentage amount of write offs for equipment and plant purchases.

The approved package gives a lower dollar amount in rebates to families, but includes almost 30 million families that would have been left out of the original package proposed. With the lower dollar amounts, more working families will be able to receive the rebate.

Although an exact date has not been specified as to when the checks will be printed and mailed, don’t expect a check within days. Congress is asking that it happen immediately, but since the stimulus package is not expected to go in front of President Bush until February 15, it looks to be like weeks before receiving your check.

Source:

Congressional Leaders Announce Rebates for 117 Million Families, ABC News

Nothing can ever be more painful than losing loved ones. Properties can be re-accumulated, careers re-established, but family members will forever be irreplaceable… and parents losing children inconsolable.

But times of pain have a way of bringing out the best in people. The circle of life continues and those that are left behind find themselves with a new purpose: honoring their dead by reaching out to others.

President Bush recently honored military families, with a special note of thanks to those who had lost loved ones in military service. He further praised these families for displaying the same courage their lost beloveds displayed, by turning their grief around to a compassionate purpose.

Families are coming up with creative ways to honor their loved ones’ memories, reaching out to the other soldiers who are away from their own families or collecting school supplies for Iraqi students. Truly, it takes courage to give some more after already giving (and losing) so much.