From Reader Kyle:

people are receiving smaller refunds because they paid fewer taxes in the first place

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Snip

A widely circulated CNN article is being misinterpreted to claim that taxes up are in 2018. “The average refund is down about 8% under the first full year of the overhauled tax code, according to data released by the IRS on Friday. Refunds averaged $1,865 compared to $2,035 for tax year 2017,” reported Victoria Cavaliere.

A large source of the confusion seems to be coming from the fact that the percentage of income withheld from paychecks has decreased. Or put simpler: people are receiving smaller refunds because they paid fewer taxes in the first place.

The Trump tax cuts composed of both corporate tax reform (cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%), and across the board cuts to individual income tax brackets. Below is the percentage point decline for each bracket. Also note that $5,650 increase in the standard deduction. For someone in the 22% bracket, the value of the increase in the standard deduction comes out to about $1,243 in post-tax income.