A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Before tomorrow's tax deadline, it seems Americans are getting bigger tax refunds, in large part because of the signature law passed by Republicans last year. But NPR's personal finance reporter Stephan Bisaha says few Americans notice the benefit.
STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Ask people how they feel about their tax refund at Birmingham's Railroad Park, and the vibe can be summarized with one word.
GLYNNA COURTER: Fine.
DAN COURTER: Yeah.
TURNER LUKER: It was fine. I mean...
G COURTER: Fine.
MICHAEL MILLER: I didn't feel like it was substantially different.
BISAHA: That was Glynna Courter, Dan Courter, Turner Luker and Michael Miller enjoying a spring picnic at the park. Sure, taxes might not be top of mind, but enjoying blueberries and cheeses. Still, they got some pretty big refunds. For Glynna and Dan Courter, who are married, their combined refund was around $10,000. Sounds like a lot, but not all that different from last year's refund.
G COURTER: We're going to try to go to Japan this summer, but we were already planning for that.
BISAHA: Yeah.
G COURTER: So...
BISAHA: Yeah, independent of the tax refund.
D COURTER: But we might go to a nice restaurant.
BISAHA: These shoulder-shrug feelings about tax refunds match the findings of a new survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. Sixty-two percent of the Americans surveyed said the new tax changes either hurt them or made no difference.
ANDREW LAUTZ: Our poll reveals a divergence in perception and reality.
BISAHA: Andrew Lautz is the Bipartisan Policy Center's tax policy director. He says just the update to the standard deduction alone should mean most Americans getting more money back. Yet only 27% of Americans think the tax changes favor them.
LAUTZ: We know that the vast majority of Americans are going to get a tax cut this year from this bill, but people don't perceive it as that.
BISAHA: Part of that could be because the tax refunds are not as big as originally projected. Here's President Trump talking about the refunds in Iowa last January.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Millions of Americans will soon receive record-setting tax refunds - an average of more than $1,000. Think of that - $1,000 compared to last year.
BISAHA: In reality, the actual average tax refund so far is about $350 more than last year - definitely larger, but not close to $1,000 larger. Still, tax refunds are only part of the story when it comes to tax relief. That's according to Don Schneider with the investment bank Piper Sandler.
DON SCHNEIDER: It's not that tax relief is lower than expected. I think it's - the evidence is stronger that more tax relief is relatively flowing to those who otherwise would owe when they file.
BISAHA: Meaning a lot of people who are benefiting are not seeing that money as a refund, mainly because they owe the government. So maybe they just owe $1,000 less, which is definitely a benefit, but it's not as noticeable as actually getting cash in hand.
SCHNEIDER: Getting it in a refund is probably more impactful, more easy to understand than having a reduction in what you otherwise would owe.
BISAHA: Now, there are Americans who are coming away with a lot more cash in hand.
BOB JONES: It was bigger, yes. Yeah. It was bigger. It was a pleasant surprise.
BISAHA: Bob Jones is retired in Birmingham. He benefited from an extra deduction of $6,000 that was added to the tax bill for a lot of seniors 65 and up. Just don't expect Jones to go on a spending spree. He's putting all of his refund in savings.
JONES: I'm going to try to leave it in savings, too, because we got a war we're in right now that - nobody knows when or how that's going to - long that's going to last.
BISAHA: He's worried about gas prices, which economists say can more than wipe out any extra tax bump.
Stephan Bisaha, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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