Average Tax Refunds Down 8.4 Percent As Angry Taxpayers Vent On Twitter

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Huh. I’ll have to tell my CPA he’s just ignorant of how taxes work. I’m sure he’ll be enlightened.
 
When the paychecks go up by pennies but the refunds go down by dollars, that means taxes have gone up. See my math explanations above.
 
Thanks but you almost have to have known prior to 2018 your tax liability for the year. I myself have been using the same spreadsheet since 1987 to figure my taxes beforehand but had to make some major adjustments during the year. So much so I decided to have an extra $2000 withdrawn just to be on the safe side but how many have such spreadsheets to help them?

At least they fulfilled their promises of creating postcard forms. Good if you like to send in 8 sheets of half blank pages.
 
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LeafByNiggle said:
When the paychecks go up by pennies but the refunds go down by dollars, that means taxes have gone up. See my math explanations above.
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True, but we have no idea that this is what happened. All we have are anecdotes from a HuffPo article and anonymous posters on a web forum. Certainly some people’s taxes did go up. If you’re a high income earner in a state with high income or property taxes, you likely saw an increase due to the deduction for state and local taxes, and property taxes being capped (at $10k, IRR). It’s also possible that if you had a major life change, for example, your children aging out of dependent status removing the child tax credit, you may have seen your taxes go up. But, all things being the same between 2017 and 2018, the doubling of the personal exemption alone reduced taxes for moderate income earners. If you’re taxes went up, it’s because you have an income well above the median for US households.
 
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Guinness said:
But, all things being the same between 2017 and 2018, the doubling of the personal exemption alone reduced taxes for moderate income earners.
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Again, the personal exemption was discontinued, though the tax brackets are adjusted for one exemption, if single. But if you used to claim several exemptions you lost out.

You must have been referring to the standard deduction which became generous to the marrieds but if they had a large number of dependents, they lost out. I haven’t figured out the breaking point.
 
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Guinness said:
True, but we have no idea that this is what happened. All we have are anecdotes from a HuffPo article and anonymous posters on a web forum.
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We also don’t know this did not happen by the same logic. You’re as much an anonymous poster as I am. However, I am the one with a tax bill higher than last year.
 
JulianN said:
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Guinness:
True, but we have no idea that this is what happened. All we have are anecdotes from a HuffPo article and anonymous posters on a web forum.
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We also don’t know this did not happen by the same logic. You’re as much an anonymous poster as I am. However, I am the one with a tax bill higher than last year.
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And that’s anecdotal.
 
Well my tax burden went way down…$1,400. And my tax refund went up! I should have decreased my withholding!

And my family’s adjusted gross income is less than $60,000 with a wife and 2 kids.
Aprox the same income as last year and still 2 kids under 17. Nothing has really changed for us, except the standard deduction doubled and taxes went down!

Here is a calculator by the New York Times (hardly a Trump mouthpiece)…
By the way the Republicans in office not just Trump passed this law.


So much for the lie that the tax bill only helps the rich!
If people decreased how much is taken out of their paychecks they should not expect a large refund…That money is already in their pocket.
The Times article states that 75% will receive a tax cut.
Who is being willfully ignorant?

And someone making $180,000 is definitely well off…Top 5% is $166,000
 
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$1,610 tax cut for the average household according to National Public Radio.

Don’t get me wrong…I know the upper wage earners will be getting a much larger tax break, but it is unfair to claim the middle class are not seeing a tax break as well. The article on HuffPost/MSNBC is misleading. People who decreased withholding have no reason to be angry that they are not also getting a larger refund when they withheld less taxes from each paycheck.
 
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I agree.
The government spends way too much.
Cutting spending has to be part of the debt solution.
 
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LeafByNiggle said:
The people cited by the HuffPost article did not decrease their withholdings.
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Well then I have to conclude they are not representative of the nation as a whole if we are to believe the New York Times and National Public Radio.

This sounds like MSNBC trying to spin a positive story for Republicans (75% of Americans receiving a tax cut) ($1,610 tax cut for the avg family) in to a negative story.

I don’t vote on party lines. To me this sounds like spin.
 
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That’s my point. It’s as much anecdotal to say it didn’t happen as that it did.
 
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