Tax Refunds Up

As the IRS totals up results for the2003 tax year, it appears that the BushAdministration's tax cuts are pumpingextra dollars into the economy. Whilethe boost in tax refunds is less thananticipated, early figures show that theIRS refunded $152.96 billion to taxpayersthrough the first week in April,up $11 billion, or 8%, from the sameperiod last year. Although hefty, the risefalls short of the US Treasury Department'searlier forecast of a 20%hike in tax refunds this year. Economiststheorize that the lower-than-forecastedrefunds could be due to higherincomes or to taxpayers tweakingtheir withholding. The level of refundsalso doesn't take into account the taxfilers who ended up with a smaller taxbill because of the tax cuts.