Envelope 194, Trump Signs IRS Notice 1444
Donald Trump wanted to sign the stimulus checks (as they are unofficially known). The Treasury and the IRS relented. Then Trump claimed he did not ask to sign the checks. Now Chuck Schumer wants to introduce legislation that would prohibit Trump from signing (putting his name on) the actual Treasury checks. And so it goes on.
Meanwhile, the Americans who already had bank account information on file with the IRS received their Direct Deposit on or around April 15th, 2020. Two weeks ago at the time of this writing. It is now the 30th of April, 2020 and still no hard copy checks have been printed and mailed. But mail is getting sent. Yes, the IRS is stuffing envelopes, Envelope 194 (Rev. 4–2020).
If you received your Direct Deposit, I am sure this looks familiar. And if you haven’t seen this, go check your mailbox.
Envelope 194 (Rev. 4–2020) is slightly off putting when you see it in your daily (or weekly) stack. It Reads: “Department of the Treasury / Internal Revenue Service. Official Business / Penalty for Private Use, $300 / RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED.” It can momentarily make you think you owe the IRS all your money and then some. Mine was under a stack of bills, so it felt doubly nauseating.
When you open it and see that it is from the White House and the desk of President Donald J Trump, it’s … tacky. It’s printed on the cheapest 8x10 white printer paper that you can find at Office Max. His signature is bleeding into the page. Random phrases are unnecessarily underlined. It is not at all White House Crane & Co. 100% Cotton Stock with the embossed Seal at top center.
Not only is it tacky, it is a supreme insult to the unbanked Americans still waiting on their hard copy checks to come via the mail. It might come as a surprise to some to find out that a sizeable portion of American citizens do not have access to traditional banking products. Interpreting the data is a bit complex; however, close to 40% of Americans are unbanked. Many of these people are living close to if not below the poverty line. Many have lost their jobs.
While the population which arguably needs this stimulus check the most waits on the IRS to print and mail their checks, the IRS is stuffing Envelope 194s with confirmation letters, which are arriving a whole two weeks after the Direct Deposit. And since Chuck Schumer is still talking about legislation to block Trump from putting his name on those checks, we can assume that those checks have still not been printed or mailed.
This raises the question: Is this two-week-late-payday-loan-style thank you letter (cloaked in an IRS envelope) really just an effort to use the stimulus check in his political favor? A last minute plan just in case the Democrats stop him from putting his name of the checks proper?
Did Donald J Trump just mail out a couple million campaign ads using the IRS’s charge account for stamps? Did Trump just swindle the IRS into contributing to his campaign?
It really does not matter at this point if this is the case. It wouldn’t even be in his his top ten worst moments.
“Which should we mail first, boss? The paper checks or the Notice 1444s.”
“Revise the Envelope 194s and send the Notice 1444s, the checks can wait until tomorrow.”
**The same people who can’t afford healthcare or to qualify for credit for a checking account also can’t afford to stay home and wait for the Federal Government to write everyone thank you notes. How did we expect this pandemic to go? In the People’s favor?***
