The federal withholding tax is working as planned to mislead under-educated taxpayers just as it was designed to do. The Democrat media is pushing it because of political bias.
The withholding tax was implemented so that under-educated taxpayers would focus on the refund (from over-withholding), instead of the actual amount of income taxes paid. That design makes it easier to raise taxes by not having citizens see what the tax actually costs.
The headlines saying “Refunds are lower” with comment saying that proves the “Trump tax cuts are a scam” are just another politically slanted example of biased reporting. What is not said is that the taxes paid are actually lower because the changed withholding tables allowed the taxpayers to keep more of their money upfront.
Anytime someone is complaining or talking about how high taxes are, if they do so by referring to the amount of the refund, they are showing a lack of basic financial education. A refund just means you over-withheld in the first place. Higher refunds equal lost interest income. Do payday loan shops give no-interest loans? Why would you give the federal government one?
Jim Hill