Anxious Americans to pay debt, taxes with stimulus checks

Michael Johnson, a construction worker in Washington, D.C., is waiting for the $1,400 check from the government promised after US President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill last week.

He’s not planning a spending spree. He’s nervous. “I’ll try and get ahead on my mortgage a little bit,” Johnson, 45, said.

Almost 900 miles away in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Aric Nowicki runs a heating and air conditioning business that takes in about $150,000 annually but has expenses of about $100,000. He has clients who are late on their bills, and he plans to use his money to pay his own overdue bills.

“I’m very apprehensive,” Nowicki said. “I’m not sure the vaccines will bring us back to normality. Too many people say they don’t want to take it, and there are these mutations.”

In interviews with a dozen Americans, including a nurse, a man made homeless by the pandemic, a plumber, a teacher, and a bar owner, nearly all say they will use their stimulus checks to pay debt and taxes accumulated in the past year.

Those priorities are not what massive stimulus bills are traditionally meant to achieve. They are designed to encourage people to buy goods and services, to help businesses and create jobs.

Economist Diane Swonk sees a divide between those who can work from home and those who cannot – highlighted by the ways Americans have spent their checks from the government during the year-long coronavirus pandemic. (Reuters)