Stephen Matthew Milligan // Wikimedia CommonsStates where people receive the biggest tax refunds
The two constants in life, of course, are death and taxes. Mid-April may loom for taxpayers, but it’s the Internal Revenue Service workers who have the truly impressive workload. Last year, they processed 245 million tax returns and more than $3.4 trillion in tax money from both individuals and businesses.
Paying taxes can be painful … unless you’ve overpaid throughout the year and are eligible for a refund. In that case, the government cuts you a check. If you’re an optimist, think of it like a fun, annual bonus from the government. If you’re a realist, you know it’s more like being paid back on an interest-free loan to the government. Regardless of your outlook, there are many refunds each year. In 2017, 121 million individuals—nearly half of all taxpayers—were paid $436 billion by the government. That’s a sizeable chunk of change.
Every year, individual states dole out millions, or even billions, in refunds. How much is each person getting from that cut? Stacker has ranked each state from low to high. This data comes from the Internal Revenue Service’s 2017 records. The IRS tallied the total amount of refunds issued in each state and found the average per refund. This list includes all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
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1 / 51Martina Nolte // Wikimedia Commons
#51. Montana
Tax refund per person: $2,421
Total IRS refunds: 383,966
Total amount refunded: $929,688,000 -
2 / 51chensiyuan // Wikimedia Commons
#50. Vermont
Tax refund per person: $2,443
Total IRS refunds: 259,915
Total amount refunded: $634,860,000 -
3 / 51DrStew82 // Wikimedia Commons
#49. Maine
Tax refund per person: $2,497
Total IRS refunds: 518,916
Total amount refunded: $1,295,965,000 -
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4 / 51Idaho National Laboratory // Flickr
#48. Idaho
Tax refund per person: $2,512
Total IRS refunds: 573,741
Total amount refunded: $1,441,498,000 -
5 / 51Yinan Chen // Wikimedia Commons
#47. Wisconsin
Tax refund per person: $2,621
Total IRS refunds: 2,274,762
Total amount refunded: $5,961,644,000 -
6 / 51ForestWander // Wikimedia Commons
#46. West Virginia
Tax refund per person: $2,675
Total IRS refunds: 658,380
Total amount refunded: $1,761,388,000 -
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7 / 51Anthony Quintano // Flickr
#45. Hawaii
Tax refund per person: $2,682
Total IRS refunds: 545,207
Total amount refunded: $1,462,267,000 -
8 / 51Bureau of Land Management // Flickr
#44. Oregon
Tax refund per person: $2,692
Total IRS refunds: 1,459,595
Total amount refunded: $3,929,561,000 -
9 / 51Charles e xavier // Wikimedia Commons
#43. New Mexico
Tax refund per person: $2,702
Total IRS refunds: 736,423
Total amount refunded: $1,989,921,000 -
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10 / 51Soil Science // Flickr
#42. North Carolina
Tax refund per person: $2,726
Total IRS refunds: 3,635,581
Total amount refunded: $9,910,477,000
