Posted on Sat, Jul. 26, 2003

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are about 48,000 children living in Leon County - and many of their parents are about to receive $400 per child in tax refunds.

Back-to-school sales may be about to flourish.

"I'd like to say we're going to tuck it away for a rainy day," said Monique Cooper, a Tallahassee mother of two children. "But to get money in the middle of the year with the kids about to start school, it's going to be hard not to spend it."

Cooper is among the thousands of local residents about to receive rebates on their 2002 tax return because of President Bush's tax cuts. The first batch of checks was mailed Friday. Though some taxpayers may save the rebates or use them to pay debts, the government hopes they will be spent to stimulate a still-recovering economy.

Tim Lynch, a Florida State University economist, predicted parents will use the money to pay for back-to-school clothes and supplies, vacations or household expenses.

"My gut reaction is it will stimulate retail spending," said Lynch, director of FSU's Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis. "I think there's a lot of pent-up demand for spending. Like people who have needed a new refrigerator but have been limping along with the old one because of the economy. (The refund) may be a small amount. But if you've got two kids, it's $800. I think it will lead to more spending."

Retail officials hope so. Sales-tax "holidays" boosted back-to-school sales for Florida retailers in 1998 through 2001, before the Legislature failed to approve tax holidays each of the past two years.

Rick McAllister, president of the Florida Retail Federation, which represents 8,000 companies, had been predicting a 4-percent to 5-percent increase in fall retail spending over last year - and said the tax rebates may boost that forecast.

"(Tax rebates) couldn't come at a better time," McAllister said. "I wish we had the sales-tax holiday to get a double bang. But there's no question that parents with extra money in their pockets will use it."

Checks will be sent according to the last two digits of the taxpayer's Social Security number:

n 00-33: mailed Friday

n 34-66: mailed Aug. 1

n 67-99: mailed Aug. 8

n Eligible taxpayers whose returns were not processed in time for these initial mailing dates will have their checks sent out after the IRS processes their returns.