A stimulated economy is a happy economy

If you haven't heard, Bush spoke to the nation (yes to all of us, even if we weren't listening) today about the need for immediate and temporary government action to help ward off the possibility or effects of a recession. Such action would come in the form of some sort of economic stimulation package (sounds dirty).

I don't want to get into a political debate on if/why/how of the plan that was talked about today without any details being given ..... I would like to instead draw your attention to the last paragraph of text taken from a CNNMoney.com article describing possible ways the package might be implemented, in what form and when ....

A payroll tax rebate would not affect your Social Security benefits or the long-term solvency of the entitlement program, Furman said, because it would really serve as a tax credit. In other words, money from your paycheck would still be taken out and put towards Social Security, but the federal government would send you a check that would serve as an advance on a refundable tax credit on your tax return.

I understand that this is taken out of context and I am not an economic or government jargon expert, but even WITH the context, I am not sure that last sentence can make ANY grammatical, logical or make-believe sense. I didn't know that "In other words" was a license to just pick random ones and put a period at the end.

"money from your pay check" ... "taken out and put towards SS" ... "send me a check" ... "as an advance" ... "on a refundable tax credit" ... "on your tax return"

... so they are going to take my money, then send it back to me, (so that I can spend it), and then maybe owe less on my taxes later? It sounds like they are loaning me my money back to me ... or maybe I am just confused.