Tax season usually lands with all the excitement of a dentist appointment. You gather your forms, cross your fingers and hope the number at the end doesn’t ruin your mood. But this year? For a lot of middle-class households, that refund might hit a little differently.
Between stubborn grocery prices, still-weird housing costs and the general “Why is everything expensive?” vibe, even a routine tax refund can feel less like a bookkeeping correction and more like a surprise boost.
