The number of people who owe the government has also been rising.

If it seems like you’re not getting a tax refund like you used to, you’re not alone.

The share of taxpayers who get money back at tax time is slowly and, a little mysteriously, shrinking. At the same time, the number of people having to cut a check to the government has been rising.

The number of refunds so far this year is down by 3.3 percent, according to the latest IRS statistics that came out before Monday’s filing deadline. It was down last year too, and the year before that.

While no one is exactly sure why, some point to changes in the way people work. Others suspect it has to do with the way the government calculates how much in tax should be withheld from people’s paychecks. And the reversal of fortune could have consequences for how and whether people comply with tax laws.

“We want to make sure that people are, in fact, filing,” said Bob Kerr, a former longtime IRS official, now a Washington-based tax practitioner. “And there are a whole bunch of people who do it because it pays to do it.”

“I think this is really going to be a problem.”

Before the pandemic, about three-quarters of filers typically got refunds. Now about 65 percent do. The IRS distributed fewer refunds last year — 105 million — than it did in 2010, despite collecting 20 million more returns..........

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/...-00152248?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

If you're doing it right, you're not supposed to be getting much of a refund correct?

If you're doing it right, you're not supposed to be getting much of a refund correct?

A lot of the COVID relief checks were basically pre-refunds and they got counted into income at the end of the year. However, they didn't have any taxes taken out on them when the check's were sent out. So you got stuck paying taxes on that money when you filed your tax return.

“We want to make sure that people are, in fact, filing,” said Bob Kerr, a former longtime IRS official, now a Washington-based tax practitioner. “And there are a whole bunch of people who do it because it pays to do it.”

^^^ this is a perfect example of Matrix blue pill/red pill crap.

The Federal government conditions wage earners into believing that they're getting something from the government when they get a tax refund. No - it's YOUR money that the Federal government got to hold and use for free. It doesn't "pay" to file your tax return - it's the only way to get your own money back in the first place. I'm speaking of net taxpayers, not those who get thousands in unearned "refundable tax credits" paid out to them (i.e. welfare).

If every wage earner had to mail in quarterly estimated income tax payments the way that self-employed people and companies have to, we'd see politicians being tarred and feathered by BOTH right-wing and left-wing people

If every wage earner had to mail in quarterly estimated income tax payments the way that self-employed people and companies have to, we'd see politicians being tarred and feathered by BOTH right-wing and left-wing people