Americans Now More Likely to Spend Their Tax Refunds

The number of Americans who plan to spend their tax refunds – rather than saving the funds or paying down debt – has grown from last year, according to a new report.

Taxsoftware.com, citing Google Surveys data, said that just 23% of Americans plan to use their tax refund proceeds to pay off debts, while just 22% will save or invest it.

That’s way down from 2007, when 55% said they were going to pay off debt, and 59% planned to save or invest the money, Taxsoftware.com said.

According to Taxsoftware.com Spokesperson Mickey Macedo, “Over the 10 years that we have asked people what they will do with their refunds, we’ve never seen numbers this low for these two important categories.”

Now, many people would read these figures and assume that Americans are paying for rent or mortgages – or paying down student debt.

Not so: according to the survey, the number of people who plan to use their refunds for those things is also way down.

Perhaps this is a sign that people feel more confident about their finances these days? Unfortunately, the survey didn’t ask that question.