You're paying for "Dear Taxpayer" letters

As noted by MSNBC, the IRS is going to spend $42 million tax dollars to send out letters to taxpayers to notify them that rebate checks will be issued as part of an economic stimulus plan. As the country slides deeper into recession, one would think that those 42 million dollars could be better deployed elsewhere, and an explanatory letter could simply have accompanied the checks when they are issued two months from now.