I assume that those who don't pay taxes will also get a rebate. That how the libs played it will Bush's tax cut.
Well, if you buy gas, you're paying taxes. I suppose you don't want those people to get checks if they don't make enough to pay income tax?
Or are you referring to people that don't buy gas? More power to them, I say. If you ride the bus to work each day, you're doing more to cut down our dependency on oil than just about any of us here who drive our cars to work (personally, I'm waiting for the bike trail to be finished that will run almost from door to door so I can ride in the summer - until then, I drive my car)....
I've long advocated the idea of charging more in gas taxes with a rebate like this becoming permanent and the $ value scaled so that out=in.
So, for example, you have an average mpg rating on your car of 25 mpg. You drive an average 12k miles per year, and buy 480 gallons per year. Charge an extra $2 in tax to pay for the rebate, and you'll spend $960 more at the pump. But at the end of the year, everyone gets a rebate of the average amount, which would be near $960. No big deal, you just adjust witholding tables and the only difference you really see is that hurt you feel when you fill up. It doesn't actually cost you more, but you're inclined to go for a higher mpg rating or cut back on usage.
Say you get a Corolla, though, and average 37 mpg. Then you pay $648, but still get the average rebate of $960. So your gas costs actually DROP. In fact, at $3 per gallon, your costs drop enough that you're effectively paying $2 per gallon.
But what if you go out and buy an 11 mpg dually? You pay $2181 and get the $960 rebate, so your costs go up $1200, and you're effectively paying $1.10 more per gallon.
Its an idea thats painful, but there needs to be an incentive to get people to change behavior if we're going to cut our energy dependency.