[javagram]

Feels like an anecdote v data situation. Are you sure your coworkers are even right in believing they paid more?

The article I linked shows vast number of middle class people somehow ended up under the impression they paid more even when they actually had paid less.

[stillbourne]

I'm not going to ask them to take a picture of this years vs last years returns and I am aware that an anecdote is not data but I can assure you when most people are expecting a return and get hit with a significant out of pocket debit instead they were quite upset. Out of an office of 10 people, 6 own a home, at least 2 of my coworkers I know for a fact complained that when last year they had a refund, this year they had to pay. I don't know about the others I can't ask because most people are working from home today.

[astura]

Getting a refund or owing at the end of the year has diddly squat to do with amount or percentage of taxes paid.

Are you sure it wasn't due to your company messing up withholdings in 2018? What state do you live in and how much is average property tax in your area?

For reference we live in a blue state and own a home and my family made approx $3k more in 2018 vs 2017 yet we paid $1k less in taxes in 2018. We went from itemizing to taking the standard deduction.

[chrshawkes]

They increase the standard deduction pretty significantly for 2018. I'm assuming in an effort to push less Americans to itemize deductions?

[stillbourne]

Oh, you see, I thought an increase in tax obligations is an increase in taxation. Silly me.

[javagram]

Except the overall tax paid for the year has nothing to do with the refund you get. A refund just means you overpaid in withholding the prior year. Even if you got a smaller refund , that doesn’t mean you paid as much in taxes. That certainly happened for me; I got hit by the SALT changes and ended up without a refund, but comparing my returns I paid less in taxes than I did the last year despite making more.

The ideal situation is that you pay $0 and get a refund of $0 at tax time. The IRS is revising withholding forms now to help reach this goal.