NRF Survey Confirms Consumers Plan to Spend Much of Rebate Checks on Necessities
Source: National Retail Federation

Consumers still plan to spend about forty percent of their tax rebate checks, sending $42 billion back into the economy, but what they plan to buy has shifted slightly from February, according to the findings of a National Retail Federation survey, conducted by BIGresearch.

Because of the increasing prices of gas and groceries, consumers plan to spend more of their rebate checks on necessities like gas and food rather than on discretionary items like electronics and apparel. Due to the rising cost of fuel, the largest leap in rebate spending will come at the pump, as 17.2 million people plan to use some of their tax rebate check to pay for gas, up from 12.1 million people who planned to do so in February. The rising cost of everyday items like milk, bread and rice also means that more consumers plan to spend the checks on groceries, with 21.2 million people using a portion of the check for food, up from 20.4 million people in February.

+ Full Survey Results (PDF; 26 KB)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Business and economics, Consumer issues, Government and politics, Taxation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.