Tax Cut For The Rich Backfires: Americans Receiving Smaller Refunds!

[Nellise]

And if $4 less is withheld per month and the refund is $300 less than last year, it is a net loss. Math is fun if you just pick random numbers to achieve whatever outcome you want.

This is the last line from the article the OP posted and why I posted what I did: "Doing so after you’ve accidentally led millions of Americans to (falsely) believe that you raised their taxes seems harder." I wasn't picking random numbers to make some argument of my own, I gave an example of what the article was explaining.

[Orbitus]

we're in February, this is only the first wave. Brace for impact as more and more folks will actually get down to actually do their tax.

Yep. Guaranteed those people that wait til April or have to wait til April will be screaming at what they are losing this year. Especially people like the farmers and whatnot that lost thousands in tax returns and whatnot.

[Smitzelplix]

we're in February, this is only the first wave. Brace for impact as more and more folks will actually get down to actually do their tax.

Yup, April is going to be interesting.

[klaperati]

Wonder when those effected will also learn and accept how little multinationals end up paying.

I have less than nothing positive to say about Trump but that has been going on for quite a lot of time now. What you describe has been going on for an awfully long time. I suspect many of the critics will end up voting for some neoliberal trash like Kamala Harris who will change nothing in that regard, and voted for Hilary who would also have changed nothing. In Europe there are many similar candidates like Macron.

Do people really need some as disgusting as Trump to get elected before they do anything?

[Orbitus]

I have less than nothing positive to say about Trump but that has been going on for quite a lot of time now. What you describe has been going on for an awfully long time. I suspect many of the critics will end up voting for some neoliberal trash like Kamala Harris who will change nothing in that regard, and voted for Hilary who would also have changed nothing. In Europe there are many similar candidates like Macron.

Do people really need some as disgusting as Trump to get elected before they do anything?

I will vote for Cthulu before I vote for Trump. I will also vote for any DEMOCRAT before a Republican at this point.

[Felya]

So a bunch of troll accounts are making blanket statements about something and people are taking it seriously with no evidence, COLOR ME SHOCKED

Here is a Forbes article about it:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyph.../#5f23af7c763d

Tax season opened on January 28, 2019. In the first full week of tax season (ending February 1, 2019), the IRS received 16,035,000 individual income tax returns. That compares with 18,302,000 individual income tax returns received by the same time last year, a drop of more than 12%.

And what about those tax refunds? Typically, taxpayers with simple tax returns who count on their tax refunds file early in the tax season. Congress touted their tax reform efforts as more simple for taxpayers, promising more money in taxpayers’ pockets. The first week of tax season isn’t quite bearing that out: In the first week, the IRS issued just 4,672,000 tax refunds as compared to 6,171,000 for the same period last year. That’s a drop of more than 24%. The total amount of tax refunds issued was just $8.713 billion, nearly $4 billion off of the same time last year. You can probably guess that the math works out to smaller average refunds for taxpayers, too: $1,865 per taxpayer compared to $2,035 for the same time period last year.

[Stormspark]

I will vote for Cthulu before I vote for Trump. I will also vote for any DEMOCRAT before a Republican at this point.

I would vote for the reanimated corpse of Hitler himself before Trump.

[Felya]

And if $4 less is withheld per month and the refund is $300 less than last year, it is a net loss. Math is fun if you just pick random numbers to achieve whatever outcome you want.

@Nellise is right and we knew this as far back as April. You know how people kept saying their taxes dropped and they are getting paid more thanks to Trump’s tax cut? This is why... their withholding changed, so they paid less in taxes. It wasn’t the tax cut and now it’s time to pay it back.

Counting on a tax refund next year? Double-check your withholdings now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.c5f80a10857a

August 2, 2018
Every tax season, a lot of people feel like they’ve hit the lottery — except it’s their own money they are collecting.

Millions of workers calculate their withholdings so that they get money back at tax time. They know their employer is sending too much to Uncle Sam, and they like it that way. They don't trust themselves to save. They count on the tax refund for any number of things, such as paying off debt or taking a vacation.

But Congress passed major tax legislation at the end of last year that could affect your refund if you are one of these folks, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Basically, if your pay went up without a raise... you are going to be paying that back, by not getting the refund you expect. Trump’s tax cut tricked you into believing you got paid more, but it was just a change to withholdings.

Edit: If I had to guess, Trump over estimated how many paid the ACA fine. That’s the only way I can think of, that this would continue to be unnoticed. Since ACA fine was upto about 2k, I think the belief was that not paying it, would hide the tax bump. I paid the fine and I am going to get the largest tax cut I have had in years. I think my last refund was a dollar... I still have the check, since the comedy is worth more than a dollar.

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I will vote for Cthulu before I vote for Trump. I will also vote for any DEMOCRAT before a Republican at this point.

I want a thread on Cthulhu for president. I think I can make a solid case... We the we! I think it might work in a fun stuff subforum...

Edit: Just a quick fun note as well. When Trump supporters were claiming they got a tax cut and Trump... uhm... detractors?... claimed there was no method for it to happen in Trump’s tax cut. No one was lying! “Both sides” were right... should have been looking at withholdings.

[Stormspark]

@Nellise is right and we knew this as far back as April. You know how people kept saying their taxes dropped and they are getting paid more thanks to Trump’s tax cut? This is why... their withholding changed, so they paid less in taxes. It wasn’t the tax cut and now it’s time to pay it back.

Counting on a tax refund next year? Double-check your withholdings now.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...=.c5f80a10857a



Basically, if your pay went up without a raise... you are going to be paying that back, by not getting the refund you expect. Trump’s tax cut tricked you into believing you got paid more, but it was just a change to withholdings.

Edit: If I had to guess, Trump over estimated how many paid the ACA fine. That’s the only way I can think of, that this would continue to be unnoticed. Since ACA fine was upto about 2k, I think the belief was that not paying it, would hide the tax bump. I paid the fine and I am going to get the largest tax cut I have had in years. I think my last refund was a dollar... I still have the check, since the comedy is worth more than a dollar.

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I want a thread on Cthulhu for president. I think I can make a solid case... We the we! I think it might work in a fun stuff subforum...

"Cthulhu for President! Why vote for a lesser evil?"

[SoLoR1]

They're not saying they're paying more in taxes. The refund is smaller because they had less withheld during the year. Like they're withholding $50 less a month, but their refund is $300 less than last year, so it's actually net gain, but people can't do math.

Even if this numbers are correct... 50x12=300 so difference would be 0... US math...

Sent from my WAS-LX1 using Tapatalk

[Belize]

Even if this numbers are correct... 50x12=300 so difference would be 0... US math...

Sent from my WAS-LX1 using Tapatalk

(50 x 12 is 600 btw)

[SoLoR1]

(50 x 12 is 600 btw)

(embaresed)

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[Felya]

"Cthulhu for President! Why vote for a lesser evil?"

Nyarlathotep would ran the campaign. The slogan is “we the we!”, because as faceless, you release even the shackles of being people. True freedom is servitude. Also, no new taxes.

[Poopymonster]

Nyarlathotep would ran the campaign. The slogan is “we the we!”, because as faceless, you release even the shackles of being people. True freedom is servitude. Also, no new taxes.

We the We is the next campaigns Be Best?

[Belize]

Nyarlathotep would ran the campaign. The slogan is “we the we!”, because as faceless, you release even the shackles of being people. True freedom is servitude. Also, no new taxes.

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

[Spectral]

Someone must have already pointed this out, but the size of refunds has nothing to do with whether people paid more or less in taxes. Lower refunds are a sign that the new withholding formula is closer to the actual tax rate. Low tax refunds are basically a win-win - they indicate that the IRS received closer to the correct amount during the year and also that people weren't giving as large of a loan to the government.

Thinking that smaller refunds say anything about rate is on the same level of financial illiteracy as believing that a higher marginal tax rate applies to one's entire income. Both are good examples of just how little the typical person seems to know.

[Toppy]

Why would the Democrats do this?

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Someone must have already pointed this out, but the size of refunds has nothing to do with whether people paid more or less in taxes. Lower refunds are a sign that the new withholding formula is closer to the actual tax rate. Low tax refunds are basically a win-win - they indicate that the IRS received closer to the correct amount during the year and also that people weren't giving as large of a loan to the government.

Thinking that smaller refunds say anything about rate is on the same level of financial illiteracy as believing that a higher marginal tax rate applies to one's entire income. Both are good examples of just how little the typical person seems to know.

The article itself says that.

The point is that most people wont see it that way, they'll see their lower return and get pissed.

[Sunseeker]

Nyarlathotep would ran the campaign. The slogan is “we the we!”, because as faceless, you release even the shackles of being people. True freedom is servitude. Also, no new taxes.

War is peace?
Freedom is slavery?
George Orwell is an Old One?

[Dougie Cooper]

Glad someone posted about this. I'm getting half as much back this year as I did last year, and I'm incredibly angry about it. My partner, as well, had half of his solar carryover from last year deferred to next year, so we're struggling to pay down the 30% on it that we need to in order not to have our monthly payments go up by $60/month.

I can't believe anyone actually thought this tax reform was a good thing for anyone other than the richest people (well, corporations) in the country.

[Valeron]

Republican plans have always been steal from the poor to give to the rich. So color me shocked in this revelation.