Businesses After Your Rebate Money

The first round of tax rebate money is headed for bank accounts ahead of schedule.  The News On 6's Dan Bewley reports local businesses are working on ways to get you to spend your extra cash with them.

The first of nearly 8 million people will start seeing that money in their bank accounts this week.  The rebate plan has spurred businesses to pull out all the stops in hopes new customers are looking for a place to spend.

The search for that perfect veggie is a seemingly never-ending quest. Come Thursday, Reasor's grocery store hopes more shoppers make their way to the Oklahoma-based chain after they get their rebate check.

"We'll cash the checks, so they bring the checks into our store; bring them to the customer service.  We'll cash the check," said Doyle Kirk with Reasor's.

Once the check is cashed, Reasor's will give you the $300 back in the form of a gift card.  The store will also put $25 on the card, making it worth a total of $325.

"You don't have to turn the whole check into a rebate to get a gift card. But, you would need to do at least $300 to qualify, beyond that it would just be up to the customer.  We'd give the rest back," said Doyle Kirk with Reasor's.

ORU economics professor, Dr. David Dyson, says it doesn't matter if you spend the money at a local coffee house, bicycle shop, or pizza parlor, it's the spending in your local community that helps your local economy. He says multiply each rebate check by seven and you'll get the number of times the money gets turned over in the economy.

"It's up to how you chose to spend it. If you spend it wisely then it will help both Tulsa and it will help you," said Dr. David Dyson with ORU's School of Business.  "If that money stays in our economy then we're the ones who get the blessings of the additional multiplication."