If the same number of people file tax returns with the IRS this year as did in 2005, Bell County stands to gain as much as $63 million when the government mails out stimulus payments in May.

Data used to arrive at that figure was purchased from the IRS.

The deadline for filing 2007 returns is midnight Tuesday.

And in less than a month, checks from the Treasury will begin trickling into the homes of Americans who send or have already sent in their forms.

Nationwide, more than 130 million households are expected to get checks, according to the IRS. The maximum amount an individual will receive is $600. Taxpayers who file a joint return will receive $1,200. The minimum is $300.

In Bell County, just if the 2005 IRS figures are used, the stimulus checks could total $63,385,200. In 2005, 105,642 returns were filed with the government out of this county. (The county, though, is the 10th fastest growing in Texas, and grew 4.2 percent between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007, the latest Census Bureau estimates show.)

Even if all married folks in Bell County get $600 apiece and all single folks receive only $300 each, the total coming back from the IRS would be nearly $50 million, a sum calculated by using 2007 Census and 2005 IRS data, the latest available.

The stimulus program was designed by Congress and the president to jump-start the nation’s economy. The nation’s leaders hope people will spend, not save, the money.

Here’s what you could buy with $63.3 million:

l 20 million gallons of gasoline at $3.239 per gallon.

l 27,558 Sony 46-inch LCD HD TV sets as advertised by Best Buy at $2,299 each.

l 63,385 Whirlpool 25.3-cubic-feet refrigerators at $999 each.

l 354,107 Perfect Flame grills at $179 apiece.

l 132,060 Acer Desk Top PCs as advertised by Circuit City.

l 6,339 2007 Chrysler PT Cruisers at the price listed by Tranum in today’s paper.

l 1,174 new fire trucks of the sort the city of Temple wants to buy with money raised by a bond issue that goes to voters on May 8.

l 2,845 new four-bedroom Austin stone homes, now on sale in Salado through Salado Realty and listed in TDT Homes magazine.

l And/or 186,329 Stradiv-arius de los maestros ultra premium Churchill cigars at Tobacco Junction.

“I hope people spend it for whatever they want,” said Lee Peterson of the Temple Economic Development Corp.

“Just make sure they spend it inside the city limits of Temple, so a small portion helps build and repair our roads, parks, hike and bike trails and other worthwhile projects that make Temple a great place to live, work and play.”

Ken Higdon, president and CEO of the Temple Chamber of Commerce, said he was somewhat conflicted about what to tell people about how to spend their money.

“They should spend a little and pay down debt,” he said. “That’s what I’d tell my daughter.”

However, with the local economy in mind, Higdon said it’s important to spend those dollars here.

Some taxpayers will not get a check, period, though, according to the congressional guidelines.

They will be those who owe the IRS money, those who earn too much, those who earn under $3,000 a year, those who don’t file an IRS return and those who don’t have a Social Security number.