There is a great increase of government jobs here. Not good.
Someone has to process the "rebates" and verify what category you are in. Welfare already showed us that women came in to sign up for welfare with children that weren't theirs. When your family grows or shrinks, this is an enormous tracking problem, computers or not.
I would rather the government spends a lot less money on finding out who is or is not entitled to VOTE and to make sure they can only VOTE ONCE in ONE place.
IMO, a better way than the "rebates" is to carefully select what items are "basic living necessities" and just NOT tax them. Some states don't tax items now that they consider necessary, like bread, milk, etc.
If you don't tax it in the first place, you don't have to come up with a schedule for rebates, there are no over rebates or under rebates, the customer just never pays it in the first place. END OF DEAL!!!
This is part of the KISS method of accounting: KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.
No, the rebate is intended to keep it simple. Everyone gets the rebate, so no one has to prove a poverty level of income to get it. Sending out rebates at the beginning of each month is a job, but much less complicated than the present system.