Beginning next Friday, the check’s in the mail.

At least that’s what the Internal Revenue Service says.

Starting May 2, more than 130 million American families and individuals will begin receiving federal tax rebate checks from the government.

Billed as a way to “jump-start” the stalled U.S. economy, the rebate check was a bipartisan effort from both Houses of Congress and President George W. Bush.

Their plan: inject about $150 billion in consumer spending back into the county’s financial system which, they say, will help prevent an actual recession and spark an uptick in spending and confidence.

“Letting Americans keep more of their own money should increase consumer spending, and lift our economy at a time when people otherwise might spend less,” Bush said earlier this year.

A concept which, one University of Oklahoma political science professor says, might actually work.

“The main reason (for the rebate) is to get money flowing into the economy and to prevent a recession,” said Glen Krutz, associate director of OU’s Carl Albert Center and associate professor of political science. “And while technically we’re not in one, we are in a slowing economy.”

The stimulus package, Krutz said, is a way to “head the recession off at the pass.”

“I’m not convinced that it will have a huge impact,” he said. “But I believe it will have some effect. I think there will a blip up in consumer spending. The trick is how concentrated it will be.”

Under the proposal, qualifying single filers — those who make less than $75,000 per year — will get rebates of up to $600.

Qualifying couples — with an annual income of less than $150,000 — will get rebates of up to $1,200, plus $300 per dependent minor child, with no maximum on the number of eligible children.

Taxpayers who owe no income taxes, but earned at least $3,000 in income from Social Security and veterans’ disability, will get rebate checks of $300 for individuals and $600 for couples.

And while a few extra thousand dollars in the middle of the year is appealing, for some families those tax rebate funds might not make it to the electronics store.

Especially not with gas at $3.50 per gallon.