Unfortunately most people are idiots. When the tax cuts kicked in the withholding scaled accordingly. That resulted in a small amount of additional money per pay period that people may not notice. But then they get their refund, which may be smaller than the prior year. I recall the news / democrats making a big deal about many people getting a smaller refund than before the tax cuts. Obviously looking at refund instead of total tax paid is idiotic, but that's the general public for you.