PROVIDENCE — There is plenty of temptation at Sony Style at the Providence Place mall, where Derek George sells flat-screen TVs he wouldn’t mind hauling home himself.

But if a $600 tax rebate check arrives in his mailbox, George says, the windfall would not end up in Sony’s till or next door at Nordstrom. Instead, he would use the rebate to pay down his $1,500 credit card debt and the $20,000 he borrowed to pay tuition at Johnson & Wales.

“I would probably pay my bills,” George, 22, of East Providence, said. “I’m not going to spend it at the mall.”

That restraint might please George’s financial adviser, but it is bad news for President Bush and congressional leaders, who agreed yesterday on $150-billion stimulus package to halt the U.S. economy’s slide into recession.

Central to the proposed package are rebates aimed at spurring consumer spending, a powerful economic force that has cascading impacts: higher sales promote hiring and great-er spending by businesses and their new employees on other products and services.

It sounds straightforward. But to succeed, the rebates have to fuel shopping sprees, and not be squirreled away in savings accounts or diverted toward bills. With rising energy costs and high levels of personal debt, the hoped-for splurging is hardly guaranteed, according to Leonard Lardaro, an economist at the University of Rhode Island.

“It’s certainly better than nothing. But there’s a long track record that one-time measures like this are not that effective,” Lardaro said. “I don’t think it’s going to turn things around.”

Under the proposal, individual taxpayers would receive up to $600. Working couples could get twice that amount, plus an additional $300 per child. Those who earn at least $3,000, but do not pay taxes, would get $300 rebates.

Major retail associations have cheered news of the package, saying the rebates will find their way to electronics and clothing shops. Before yesterday’s announcement, the National Retail Federation had been begging Mr. Bush to intervene.

“Quick enactment of legislation to put dollars back in consumers’ pockets would fuel consumer spending and create additional demand throughout all sectors of the nation’s economy,” Tracy Mullin, the federation’s chief executive officer, said in a letter to the president and congressional leaders.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association agreed, praising the proposed package as a critical remedy to sluggish sales. “The retail industry is concerned about the economy,” Brian Dodge, a spokesman for the group, said in an interview. “If you throw more money into the consumer’s hands, they’re going to spend it.”

The bill is expected to be voted on in the House next week and then move to the Senate. In Rhode Island, where greater consumer spending is needed to help close huge budget deficits, some shoppers are already drawing up lists of possible purchases.

Caitlin Durkin, 20, said unexpected money tends to bring out the inner-spendthrift. “It’s like lottery money,” Durkin said, hustling to the Cuban Revolution restaurant yesterday. “It could cause crazy spending.”

At Geller’s Shoes, on Washington Street, the economic turmoil has meant a “roller coaster” for sales, according to manager Papo Campbell. But lately, the shop has grown busier as consumers spend their income-tax refunds. A blanket tax rebate, he said, would give another boost.

“You kidding? An extra six hundred bucks, the mothers will come, the kids will come,” Campbell said.

Jessi Ewing and Alex Sauer, both 19, have no plans to hoard the cash. Last night, they left the downtown gift shop Oop! empty-handed. But with $300 checks burning a hole in their pockets, they say, their next trip would be more fruitful.

“We’re fashion majors,” said Ewing, a sophomore at Johnson & Wales who has earned enough on school breaks to qualify for a rebate. “We just like shopping.”

The promised spending will not come immediately. If the package is approved, the rebate checks would probably not arrive until May or later. And even those who plan to spend the money may not rush out the day it comes.

Christine Asmus, who raises money for Brown University, said her rebate check would not end up in the bank. But Asmus, 57, said she would put it aside temporarily, so that her next vacation could be at a resort in Barbados instead of a shared cottage on Cape Cod.

Kevin Barry, 40, of Scituate, has a similar idea, though he has his eye on Aruba. “I’d spend it,” he said.

Not everyone, however, has such grandiose plans, and that could complicate long-term attempts to prevent a recession.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is promoting the proposed stimulus package by pointing to a smaller income tax rebate in 2001 that corresponded with increased consumer spending. But some research has found that much of that money did not go toward consumer goods.

Anne Tait, an art professor at Roger Williams University who is married with one child, could be up for as much as $1,500 if the package is approved. That’s a “chunk of money,” Tait, 46, said. But she would need four of those checks just to cover her daughter’s annual daycare bill.

There is also no new car or stereo in Jumoke Akinrolabu’s future.

“Spending is part of why we’re in trouble to begin with,” said Akinrolabu, 29, a senior at the University of Rhode Island. “I would bank it as emergency cash and pretend I never got it.”

bgedan@projo.com