In Devastating Blow to Democrat Talking Point, Tax Refunds Are Up This Year
When math doesn’t square with your talking points
Sorry, Democrats, but data recently released from the IRS indicates tax refunds haven’t dwindled following Trump’s tax reform, they’re actually up by a whole 1.3% (on average).
Since its passage, Democrats have demonized the tax reform legislation, first claiming the increase in take-home pay was minimal, then suggesting companies would just keep the extra for themselves, greedy corporations and all. When large companies passed the saving to their employees, Democrats went back to the, well it’s just a one-time small gift, mantra.
As tax season bloomed, Democrats then claimed (and the press marched behind in lock-step) tax refunds had shrunk this year. Never mind that if you’re getting a refund, it’s because you overpaid your taxes, not because a benevolent government is giving you back more of your money they’ve been withholding interest-free. But I digress.
Andrew Wilford analyzed the data in a post at USA Today:
The IRS has released new data about tax filing season that has put weeks of overhyped media stories to rest: Compared to last year, refunds are now up 1.3 percent on average. Many politicians were quick to jump to conclusions about how tax refund data had proven that the recent tax cut law was a bad idea, but it’s turning out that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been on the whole a windfall for taxpayers up and down the income ladder.
This debate was always a bit silly. The size of tax refunds is not a useful metric for evaluating tax liability — realistically, the only thing they effectively measure is how accurate the federal withholding tables and individual withholding decisions were. While it’s understandable that many perceive a significant refund as a windfall, the truth is that tax refunds are an interest-free loan the taxpayer gives the federal government, not some sort of financial bonus.
On the other hand, when it comes to tax liability, the vast majority of American families come out ahead. The Tax Policy Center found that 90 percent of middle-class American families would receive a tax cut this year, while the Tax Foundation estimated that middle-class families would receive an average tax cut of 1.7 percent (the most significant reduction of any income level, including the wealthiest).
So where did Democrats go wrong? Wilford explains:
That didn’t stop Sen. Kamala Harris from stating that this was proof that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was a “middle-class tax hike to line the pockets of already wealthy corporations and the 1 percent.” Nor did it prevent Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee tweeting out an article slamming the TCJA for “falling refunds” just a few hours before the IRS released its updated data showing refunds higher than last year.
Hopefully, Sen. Harris and the Ways and Means Committee Democrats knew what they were tweeting was misleading when they tweeted it, and let’s face it: Politicians sometimes say misleading things. That being said, they should have known that there was a good chance their overconfidence would come back to bite them.
And yet…
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The “refunds” (interest-free loans) are, indeed, down for a lot of US tax-payers.
Why? Because the “takings” were down in the first place.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/03/democrats-dumb-statements-taxes-kamala-harris-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
Agreed. I got a smaller refund this year but the gross was higher and the amount withheld was lower. Definitely came out ahead. The Dems are spitting in the wind.
Why the down-votes?
That comment is 100% accurate.
From the article:
“When the Republican tax bill lowered taxes for the great majority of taxpayers … the IRS got a move on and changed the withholding schedules. As a result of which, the people who got a tax cut got a tax cut right then, their paychecks getting a little bigger as Uncle Stupid skimmed off a little less.
…
At the end of the year, people who had had less money withheld in taxes faced a terrible new reality: They had had less money withheld in taxes! They owed less, and they paid less, and, because the government did a surprisingly effective job of matching up what was withheld to what was owed, taxpayers got smaller returns. Which is to say, they got their money right away rather than having to wait for a tax refund after making the government an interest-free loan.”
Let me try to phrase this as a liberal:
Evil Trump Administration Keeps More Of Your Money Until Forced To Give It Up Thanks To Tireless Democrat Lawmakers.
We are living in an idiocracy.
Another campaign pledge fulfilled with the revised 3Q and preliminary 4Q GDP, the 2018 GDP is 3.125%
I suspect almost everyone complaining about their refund either 1) Doesn’t understand how taxes work or 2) Is just straight up lying. Most of the people I have seen making these complaints, no lie, work for left leaning political organization and have no problem lying through their teeth. Everyone else probably doesn’t realize they paid less in taxes, took home more pay upfront, and therefore receive a smaller refund.
I propose a 3rd option – they are carefully chosen individuals who live in NY or other huge state tax states and, since they cannot deduct those like they did in the past, they are receiving smaller refunds (even though they are paying lower federal income tax overall).
This was predicted – and refuted, when the bill was being debated, and when it passed.
This is just the MSM dragging itself, because they are selectively reporting what they want to say and ignoring or discarding what they don’t like or want, as usual, because reality and the majority of taxpayers don’t fit their “narrative” (read: agitprop or propaganda).
It’s right out of the propaganda playbook, and they get away with it…all.the.time.
When a very large number of citizens don’t pay income tax and they are much of your constituency, they don’t care about taxpayers getting refunds. Similar to “aynomous” source material, just make it up to fit the narrative, broadcast it and many will believe it, after all it’s on the News.
Those complaining are limited by their deductible. This infers higher income levels… which I thought the “tax the rich” was always the banner of the Left. It makes it costlier to live in a high tax state, but I thought those were workers’ paradises. The only real downside is a whole bunch of quasi-progs moving to red states and starting their dash to the bottom again. They economically deplete states as sure as clear-cutting does a forest.
I’m retired and have a fixed income. My tax refund
D this year was over $500.00 more than in any previous year. Also our tax preparer filed it on line and my refund check was in my bank account in less than 2 weeks. Go Trumper!!!