USA Today does their part in downplaying the Bush tax cuts by claiming that tax refunds didn't increase as much as anticipated. Their implication is that tax cuts were frivolous and didn't really do any good.

Through April 9, the average refund was up $102 to $2,090, an increase of about 5% from refunds during the same period last year, the IRS says. Economists and tax analysts had earlier predicted the Bush administration's $350 billion tax-cut package would boost refunds by more than 25%. The administration estimated the average refund would increase $300.

What many people don't realize though, is that refunds don't really have much to do with taxes. A tax refund is to taxes what manufacturer's rebates are to the price of computers. Just a few years ago, personal computers were sold with rebates of $300 to $500, or more. Today, computer rebates seem to be about $100 to $200. Does that mean people were better off five years ago? That's a hard argument to make, considering computers are currently about ten times as powerful at one fourth the price.

But USA Today wants you to believe just such a lie. Whether or not your refund went up or down, if you paid taxes this year you kept a lot more of your own money. Withholding was adjusted half way through the year, so if your pay rate remained constant your net pay should have increased. Of course, with decreased withholding you also end up with a smaller refund. But is that necessarily a bad thing? If refunds are such a good thing, the IRS could simply jack up the tax withholding to make sure you got a bigger refund.

I guess if you're no good at managing your money or live payday to payday, getting a refund could be like "found money". Personally, I prefer to adjust my withholding so that my taxes come out to within about $100. One year I had to pay an extra $75, which I thought was just about right. This year I had to write a check for an additional $500. I didn't enjoy writing the check, but that has more to do with my hatred of taxes than my desire to front the government a free loan. Personally, I would much rather people be forced to pay their entire tax bill at the end of the year. Then we'd really get to see how many people support tax cuts.