Lots of taxpayers are furious over their diminished tax refund. Experts say they shouldn't be.

The Internal Revenue Service says the average 2018 tax refund has been 8 percent smaller than last year and about 25 percent fewer people are receiving refunds. This is mostly due to the tax overhaul Republicans pushed through on party-line votes in late 2017, The Washington Post reports, plus subsequent changes the IRS made to withholding tables. (The IRS would prefer you neither owe taxes nor get a refund.)

An IRS spokesman cautioned that these numbers reflect only returns processed through Feb. 1 and will change as more taxpayers file and the IRS recovers from the five-week government shutdown, the Post reports, "but there's reason to believe frustrations could rise as more Americans complete their tax returns." A lot of Americans are already angry and sharing their outrage on social media, blaming President Trump and congressional Republicans. But the smaller refunds don't necessarily mean people are paying more in taxes. In fact, most people got modest tax cuts last year, even if they didn't notice it.

"People generally got a piece of their tax cut last year gradually in the form of lower withholding on their paychecks," Joseph Rosenberg at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center told the Post. "It's a mystery why taxpayers seem to be comfortable — and even happy — with getting refund checks." Nicole Kaeding at the conservative Tax Foundation agreed, arguing that "getting a tax refund means that you gave the government an interest-free loan because you overpaid your taxes." Personal finance experts generally agree with this argument.

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Still, "many Americans appear to like getting a refund because they feel that if they received an extra $20 to $40 a week, they would spend it," the Post observes. "But when they get a one-time refund of $1,000 to $2,000, they put it toward paying off credit card debt, paying down a mortgage, or saving for retirement." You can read more about the GOP tax plan's shortfalls from The Week's Jeff Spross.