Tax Refunds Aren't for Spending This Year (Paying down Debt)

Yahoo Finance ^

[Red in Blue PA]

Americans will get back some $330 billion in tax refunds this year, and more than half of that is earmarked for savings accounts or paying down debt. That's the highest percentage since 2007.

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Some 66 percent of individual taxpayers will get a refund check in 2016. According to an annual survey released by the National Retail Federation on Thursday, about 50 percent of them will plow it into savings, while 35 percent will also use it to pay down debt. It's perhaps a sign of self-discipline that Americans want to shore up their finances, but it's also a bad sign for consumer sentiment, and by extension the U.S. economy, which relies on you spending as much of your money as possible.

[sparklite2]

It’s perhaps a sign of self-discipline that Americans want to shore up their finances

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Actually, it’s more of a self-discipline to structure your withholding such that the government doesn’t get interest-free use of your money for a year. Using the fedguv as an enforced savings plan isn’t top notch discipline. Of course, if you lack the discipline to deny yourself spending what needs saving, then the above is better than nothing.

[Stirner]

I hate debt. Paid off mortgage. Pay full credit card balance every month. Carry no debt at all. But I still recognize that in the current climate going into debt is “smart” and to save is to be a fool.

[sparklite2]

Same here. At zero interest rates, saving is penalized but I will not go in debt.

[dynachrome]

I figure I’ll owe the feds about $300. Probably the same to the state. I don’t let them have any free loan from me.

[Organic Panic]

...Yeah... Like their Obamacare fines

[Pining_4_TX]

You beat me to it. Wait until these millenials find out how much universal health care costs and how little it delivers.

[nobamanomore]

What is a tax refund?