So far, as I prepare my return, I’m owing rather than getting a refund from this filthy government. The tax code is an abomination and disgrace.
Is your overall liability higher or lower than last year?
Is your overall liability as a percentage of income higher or lower than last year?
Those are the pertinent questions. Not whether you under or over withheld.
I’m getting crushed, and I suspect many people with multiple teens is as well. Not only did the lowered withholdings make me owe more, but overall my tax bill itself is noticeably higher. The elimination of personal exemptions is designed to punish parents who work anything above low-wage jobs; the doubling of the child credit only impacts children 16 and under, while eliminating the personal exemptions has made over $20,000 more of my income taxable.
Look up “who is hurt by new tax law”, and you’ll see families listed - and the larger they are, the worse the impact. Social engineering to replace Americans, while the low-income foreigners will get even larger tax refunds (because the child tax credit now works like the earned income credit, adding more to a refund than they ever paid in). Like so many of our policies/laws, this is just more war on the middle class. To think that 11 months ago people were thrilled about the “raise” they got from Trump as withholding were adjusted...
(FWIW, I live in NJ with property taxes well below the $10,000 cap; this impact I describe above will be felt across all fifty states)
Our withholding was lower than needed, but we made a bunch more; due to having better jobs. We bought a house and saved a bunch more for retirement, too, but the taxes are quite a bit less than they would have been.
The tax cuts are very real and very helpful.