Originally Posted by cincypix
OK I am an IRS employee in my day job as a contact rep on the biz hotline ...
so here's my .02
USING CARDS TO PAY YOUR TAXES IS A RIPOFF IF YOU WANT MILES!
At least if the tax payment sites want more than 2.5 per cent to give your credit limits to your uncle
Most airlines SELL their miles for less than .03 per mile. Research your airline, research your tax payment site, do the math, and watch your mind get blown!
And for small employers, the temptation to use CC to get FF miles can be LETHAL! The tax payment sites themselves warn their systems are not for payroll deposits, because even in their moneygrubbing hearts they know it's suicide for those guys to use CC cards to get more FF miles!
And the businessmen and women scream to high heaven when I parrot the tax payment site line!
I appreciate the sentiment and in general your point is spot on. But for double Starpoints where I know I have a near-term redemption need at a real value between 3 and 4 cents per point, I will happily run my tax payment through Amex to buy the points for 1.3-ish cents apiece. It's an easy win for me.
Would I run a massive tax payment through on my Amex, buying a huge pool of Starpoints at 2.5 cents each? Probably not - I'd have to be pretty darn certain I had a near-term redemption for a trip I absolutely needed to take where no other hotel options were available. But I only owed the Man around $6k this year, so it was an easy call to do it for the Double Points promo.