Here's a really interesting proposal... instead of paying in 25k, wasting 20k, then paying out 2k, why not just not have people pay so much tax up front?

Because there are millions of people with zero income at the moment, or a reduction in income. Easier to just inject fiat into their deposit accounts to increase monetary velocity.

In fact, those are probably the only ones who really need the stimulus in the first place. It's not like someone with $400 on a bank account and a stimulus check of $2000 is at risk of spending it all on something nonessential like Bitcoin or Tesla stocks instead of paying rent.