The national media had a field day with news that early tax filers were upset that their refunds under the Trump tax cuts were down. Yet there was one snag in this seeming irresistible man-bites-dog story: It was wrong.

The Treasury Department said in a tweet the reports were “misleading” and blamed the dip in reported refunds to the small sample size of early filers. That assessment is backed by Strategas Group’s Washington policy team led by Dan Clifton.

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