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Katie Finnerty already had spent her $600 tax rebate by the time the government deposited it in her bank account earlier this week.
But the compliance specialist with M&T Bank didn’t splurge. Instead, she and her twin sister, Molly, invested their windfalls in hardwood flooring for their Getzville condominiums.
“We’re in the process of doing home improvements,“ said the 34-year-old Finnerty. “Because of the $1,200, we did more. We upgraded.”
Economists predict many consumers will take such frugal paths as $110 billion in federal economic stimulus rebates start landing in bank accounts of 130 million low-to middle-income people.
The rebates amount to $600 for individuals, $1,200 for couples and another $300 for each child under 17. They are going out to singles with adjusted gross incomes of less than $75,000 and couples who filed joint returns with adjusted gross incomes of less than $150,000.
You can calculate what you will receive using this Economic Stimulus Rebate Calculator.
Whether the influx of cash will pump up the economy is debatable. But the infusion is particularly important for the Buffalo region’s long-troubled economy, local economists say.
Of the 8.3 million New Yorkers receiving the rebates, an estimated 498,000 live in the Buffalo Niagara region, where up to 70 percent of the households qualify.
“It’s much more likely to have an impact on the Buffalo economy than in Manhattan,” said Lewis Mandell, professor of finance and managerial economics at the University at Buffalo’s School of Management. “Most of the Buffalo area is going to end up getting something.”
Retailers here, as elsewhere, are banking on it.
• Rosa’s Home Stores, for instance, will roll out a special “Economic Stimulus Sale” Sunday, hoping to draw consumers in with double-digit discounts on appliances, mattresses and furniture.
“We know what people are going through,” said Dean Rallo, the local chain’s president. “We’re stretching the dollar as far as possible for them.”

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