A few weeks back, I saw a piece of mail from the IRS. We'd been hearing for weeks that we all might be getting an additional stimulus payment, so silly me, I thought maybe the government had worked together to quickly get this second round of payments out. I know, silly right? The government working quickly, and together?!

The only sillier thing than that was when I opened the envelope. There was a real, actual check from the IRS....... for $1.50. That's right one dollar and fifty cents. Between the ink, the shipping, and the paper, I guarantee the government lost money sending me this check. But my wife and I were stumped. Why this? Why now?

Well, the likely answer to why is because it's an election year. But it's almost offensive to send a check like that. Yes, "free" money is awesome, but it just seemed pointless. For that matter, what's to keep a lot of folks from thinking it's a scam? Turns out though, we weren't remotely the only ones.

According to WGME - TV13, some 14 million Americans got these extra checks. Apparently, the law stipulates that if the government pushes back the tax date, they have to pay us interest on any refund. So that explains why the checks are so small. I have to say, it's the first time the government has ever paid me interest on anything.

While I'm glad the government has decided to keep their books clear, getting a check for $1.50 in the mail seems pointless. But again, how can I argue with the concept of free money? Mostly because I learned a long time ago, there just ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Not even one for $1.50.

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