Tax Refunds are BAD??

When I file my taxes every year, I get really excited because that means FREE MONEY for me! J Before I got married I would go shopping, pay off things if needed or even save some for a rainy day.  Although now that I am married. It’s no more of MY money… HA! It’s OUR money!

I came across an article today that intrigued me, and since Tax season is upon us, I thought I would share this with the world. According to Jeff Schnepper with MSN Money, “Refunds are bad!” He says “Yes it is fun and exciting to get a check in the mail, but it’s not like you're gaining anything. That money was always yours. The feds are just giving it back. And that's the point. When you get a refund, what that really means is that YOU’VE given the federal government an INTEREST-FREE loan you're just getting your money back.”... WHAT? I’m not sure about you but I don’t want to give the government anymore that I have to and I’m really not ok with an INTEREST FREE loan. Schnhepper makes a great point, he says “In fiscal 2009; more than 96.7 million Americans received tax-refund checks, with an average refund of $2,683, up slightly from the year before. No matter how you do the math (for those without calculators, it's more than $259 billion), that's a whole lot of interest-free dollars. They want that check from the government.” He even gives you a challenge; he claims he can give you the same deal: “I offer to allow anybody reading this to send me money. I'll take cash, checks, money orders, even food stamps. Send me as much as you want. And I promise -- on my word as MSN Money's tax expert -- that I'll send it back to you in April, without interest. It sounds silly when you put it that way, doesn't it? But it's no different than getting a tax refund from the IRS. Some people argue that refunds are a great way to save money. If they never see the dollars in their checks, it's easier to put aside money for, say, that big-screen plasma TV they've been drooling over."

WOW!  I know my bank would never offer me an INTEREST FREE loan, I mean how would they make money if they did that? So why are we really getting excited about Tax Refunds? Until I read this I guess I was ignorant in regards to Tax Refunds, but now this is one more reason why I am REPUBLICAN and want to cut taxes. Weather you make 7K a year or 700K a year, I think taxes should be lower for everyone, and we should STOP paying for random programs that cost too much and things we don’t need!

Lucy