Economics
Amount of Tax Refunds Up Slightly While Fewer Receive Checks
- Refunds averaged about $3,143 for the week ending Feb. 22
- Mnuchin says tax refunds are close to prior year levels
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The amount of the average U.S. tax refund increased 1.3 percent last week compared to a year earlier but the combined value of those checks and the number of people receiving the payments continued to drop.
The IRS released its data Thursday that compares the size and number of tax refunds compared to the same week last year before the GOP tax law was enacted. It released the figures hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin touted a 17 percent jump in tax refunds issued since last week. (The Internal Revenue Service figure was actually 19 percent).