We’re officially middle class!

Today’s USPS Informed Delivery email included an image of the above envelope. I was, of course, curious; a quick search took me to the FTB’s California Middle Class Tax Refund page, which explained that it was NOT a scam and that there’d be a debit card in the envelope to pay us a one-time payment to help compensate Californians for the high price of gasoline this summer (and to make sure the state budget surplus stayed below the Gann Limit.

I also found out that, unlike many rebates-by-debit-card, we could actually withdraw the cash or transfer it to a bank or credit union. Transferring the money required me to set up a login at the issuing bank’s website, including answers for two secret questions – but the whole process only took a few minutes, and now the money is on its way, and I should be able to throw away the debit card in a day or so. I guess I don’t even have to cut it up, since there will never be any money in the account again!

ETA: Most people’s payments were direct-deposited; only those of us who didn’t get a 2021 refund via direct deposit got debit cards.