How about giving us an extra 32 cents?

The Internal Revenue Service is about to spend $42 million to send you a letter to tell you it's going to send you a check in a couple of months.

Seems like we all knew that.

No, the IRS really needs to spend about 32 cents to print, process and mail each letter, because, otherwise, people might get confused.

Oh, that's different. We all know the IRS doesn't want to confuse anyone.

"Anytime you do something as a government, tens of millions of times, there is ample room for people to get confused," explained Keith Hennessey, director of the president's National Economic Council. "And so, if you're going to have tens of millions of taxpayers getting checks, you want to get the information out so that you have as few people as possible confused about what's happening. They understand what's coming, and it reduces the number of incoming requests that IRS and Treasury have to figure out how to deal with it," he said.

There's no truth to the rumor, being spread by Democrats, that the letters amount to a "self-congratulatory mailer that gives the president a pat on the back for an idea that wasn't even his," as Sen. Charles Schumer charged on Friday.

For the record, if you file a 2007 tax return, you have a rebate coming, unless you make a lot of money. If you don't file a tax return, earn less than $3,000 or are an illegal immigrant, you won't receive a check.

It shouldn't be hard to get that word out. As for the IRS, how about canceling the letter and just giving us all an extra 32 cents?