H&R Block has figured out what happened to people’s tax cuts last year.

The company said overall tax liability was down 24.9%. Wow, that’s great! But how come people didn’t feel 24.9% richer?

That’s because the IRS changed the withholding tables and people got that extra money in dribs and drabs in their regular paychecks. So tax refunds, according to Block, were only 1.4% higher despite the tax cut.

You just can’t take your money a little bit at a time every payday and still expect a big refund.

And, by the way, this is a better way to handle the family budget. Getting a big refund only means you lent Uncle Sam money interest free for the tax year.