Tax refunds: How Long Islanders plan to spend them

Tax season is almost done, and Long Islanders are starting to receive refunds in what the White House has said will be the "biggest tax refund season ever" and the first after major tax reforms passed Congress last year.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, as of April 3, the average refund amount was $3,462, up by more than 11% from last year, totaling about $242 billion.

The nonprofit Tax Foundation has said larger refunds and lower liability due at filing this year are largely because of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will yield roughly $100 billion in higher refunds, with average refunds increasing between $300 to $1,000 compared with a typical year.

In interviews at shopping centers in Amityville on Tuesday, some taxpayers talked hopefully about the ways they planned to use their money, like summertime home improvements. But some said the money they got back was underwhelming or worried it would be eaten away by increasing costs.

That range of opinions broadly reflects a gap in projections about the size and impact of the refunds. The White House put the average refund increase at $1,000 "or more" and touts them as "putting more money back in the pockets of families, workers, and seniors."

The left-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, using data cited by the White House and congressional Republicans, put the average increase at $331 to $748, with the "vast majority" of that money going to people earning more than $100,000. The think tank said filers with incomes over $200,000 will see refunds averaging $2,046, while those with incomes under $20,000 will get an average $13.

Here's what some Long Islanders told Newsday about their refunds:

Taiwo Miller, 59, retired police officer

Miller, of North Amityville, said his refund this year was about $400 more than previous years. With that extra money, he and his wife plan to buy seed and sod for their lawn. Miller said he was happy with the size of his refund and with his tax bill overall but worried about cost-of-living issues, including the price of gas, now about $50 to $60 when he fills up the tank of his SUV. "I wish the gas would go down," he said.

Peggy Isern, 73, retired medical office administrator

Isern, of Briarwood, Queens, said she got $63 back from New York State and nothing from the federal government: in total, barely enough to buy a fast food meal, she joked. Asked if she felt her tax dollars were being spent wisely, Isern drew a distinction: "Local government, they’re taking care of people." But on the federal level, "it’s all going to rich people to make them richer." Isern said she was anxious about the economy and that increasing costs of food and health care outweighed any refund bump. "I know people who are all right and they can take the hit, and others on the borderline, elderly with fixed incomes who don’t have a lot of money," she said.

Michael Talles, 50, radiology technologist

Talles, of Lindenhurst, said he got just over $1,000 back — less than his typical $4,000 to $5,000. He said he’d probably put the money toward car expenses like tires, brakes and insurance. Talles said he saw paying taxes as a civic duty: "I have to do my part." But on Long Island, he said, a tax bill is a small part of a much bigger affordability problem. "The middle class is disappearing," he said. "The dream on Long Island, from what I can see, is a studio basement apartment for $2,000, with maybe a window ... Salary is never commensurate with the cost of inflation."

Liz Sylvester, retired health care professional

Sylvester, of Copiague, said she and her husband, in their first year they were both retired, got a little less than $500 back. She didn’t plan to splurge. "Bills always come up," she said. While Sylvester said she felt secure in her own finances, she saw little to celebrate about the national or regional economy. "I feel bad for the younger kids, especially people just getting out of college. Living on the Island, there’s not really a lot for them."

Bruce Payne, 82, retired title insurance company owner

Payne, of Amityville, said any refund that does come his way would go toward his home, his lawn or the canal bulkhead in back of the house, though with repairs at $500 per foot or more, "unless I get a windfall, I’m not doing anything with it." In the last year, Payne has absorbed a drop in his Social Security payments, along with increased prices for some goods. He, like others, said concern over the economy outweighed any buoy effect from lower taxes. "What’s happening right now, it’s bearable, but if it continues on the path that it’s on, it’s going to hurt a lot of people."