<prompt> Human: My friend makes roughly 14,000 a year, he claimed a 1 on his W2 and he has had the same job for the entire year. His return for federal and state combined was 1,300.Now I also claimed a 1 on my W2 although I made 28,000 this year, my return was only 1,140. So my question is if were in the same tax bracket why am I paying twice the taxes at 7,000 a year and he paid 3,500, but am receiving less of my money back? There shouldnt be anything different in either return as far as I understand neither of us have kids or anything like that. Does anyone know why this would be?  <response>: A tax refund isnt a tip that the government sends you for having a good year. Its a refund. Its the government giving you back the money that you overpaid throughout the year.A bigger refund means that you overpaid more and missed out on your income more throughout the year, its not a positive thing. It means you messed up more. You dont want it to be a big number.Hes also not in the same tax bracket as you. The standard deduction was 6,350 in 2017 and the personal exemption was 4,050. So 14,000-6350-4050 3,600 in taxable income. 3,600 the marginal rate of 10 is 360 of federal income tax. 28,000-6350-4050 17,600 in taxable income. You owe 10 on the first 9,325 and 15 on the rest, for a federal tax bill of 2,173 