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There is not really a mechanism to do that. The US does not have the mailing address of every citizen, or no sure knowledge which SSNs belong to dead people, a
by georgeecollins 6y ago
There is not really a mechanism to do that. The US does not have the mailing address of every citizen, or no sure knowledge which SSNs belong to dead people, and what the current address is that corresponds to an SSN, etc. The closest is tax returns. There are about 100m more people in the US than tax returns, and some people file more than one return (companies, trusts). I am sure the US has the correct information for half the population. But if you start thinking about millions of $10k checks being sent to the wrong address the potential for fraud is pretty mind boggling.
I don't think that is the only reason, but it is something to consider.
- oneplane 6y agoThat seems rather silly. How can a country function well if you don't have basic information to connect with the people?
- georgeecollins 6y agoThere are people in the US that don't like the idea of a national id card. The US has a very special love / hate relationship with government.
- DarthGhandi 6y agoWe did it in Australia by giving it to everyone who filed a tax return (necessary even if you aren't paying any tax). Went into the same bank account, you had to arrange for it to be different with the tax office otherwise. Didn't hear anything about fraud but some dead people did get payments.
- imtringued 6y agoPeople who need the stimulus can contact the government voluntarily. This problem only exists for central banks that want to spread the helicopter money perfectly evenly among the population because an uneven distribution will not have the intended effect (e.g. mortgages with low interest are only available to those who actually buy a home).