The feeling of satisfaction and joy that a tax refund creates in a person. This feeling is somewhat misguided because the tax is only refunded because the person paid too much tax during the previous year.

While it may be more emotionally uplifting to receive a tax refund after tax season compared to having less tax removed from each paycheck, a tax refund, logically, is less desirable than owing tax. This means that you have given the government an interest-free loan; you paid out a little bit extra from each paycheck to the government and at the end of the next tax season, you receive the same amount back.