{"id":155,"date":"2026-05-26T20:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=155"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:38:24","slug":"increased-tax-refunds-have-been-eaten-up-by-iran-war-price-spikes-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=155","title":{"rendered":"Increased Tax Refunds Have Been Eaten Up by Iran War Price Spikes, Experts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Congressional Republicans had been hoping their political standing would improve this spring when American voters received larger refunds thanks to changes in US tax law made under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.<\/p>\n

However, The Financial Times<\/em> reported on Tuesday that much of the projected fiscal stimulus from the larger refunds has already been swallowed up by the rise in gas and energy prices caused by President Donald Trump\u2019s illegal war with Iran, and the financial situation could grow even worse in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY Parthenon, told The Financial Times<\/em> that \u201cthe tax refunds have been largely erased by the increase in Middle East price pressures,\u201d and warned that \u201cthe longer the conflict lasts, the more we move to an adverse scenario where inflation proves more persistent and erodes consumer spending growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Sheets, global chief economist at Citigroup, told The Financial Times<\/em> that the Iran war has only accelerated problems for US consumers who were already facing high pressures from the cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy our reckoning, wage growth has steadily lost ground relative to the pace of inflation since the middle of last year,\u201d Sheets said. \u201cFirst President Trump\u2019s tariffs and, more recently, Iran-related pressures on oil and commodity prices have pushed up prices relative to wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Federal Judges Block Alabama From Using Racially Gerrymandered Congressional Map<\/a><\/p>\n

US retailers have been expecting the positive impact of the tax refunds to dwindle, with Target CFO Jim Lee telling The Financial Times<\/em> that they \u201cwill be fading over the rest of the year\u201d as Americans are using larger shares of their incomes to pay for basics such as food and energy.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s concerns were echoed by Walmart CFO John David Rainey, who told CNBC<\/em> last week that while tax refunds have been helping Americans buffer the costs associated with the Iran war, that financial cushion is shrinking by the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think higher tax returns muted some of the pressure related to higher fuel prices,\u201d said Rainey, \u201cand as we\u2019re in a period of time right now where those tax refunds are largely not coming in, I think consumers are going to feel more of that pressure from higher fuel prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walmart\u2019s stock price on has fallen sharply over the last week despite strong quarterly earnings, as investors express concerns that low-income consumers are feeling squeezed financially.<\/p>\n

As reported by The New York Times<\/em>, Walmart noted in its most recent earnings call that \u201csales continued to be driven by its low-price private label goods and higher-income households trading down to stretch their budgets,\u201d suggesting that consumers are under increasing distress.<\/p>\n

Read more US Bombs Iranian Ships Despite Ongoing Ceasefire and Peace Negotiations<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump\u2019s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d aimed to stimulate spending with bigger refunds, but inflation has swallowed the benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nIncreased Tax Refunds Have Been Eaten Up by Iran War Price Spikes, Experts Say - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=155\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Increased Tax Refunds Have Been Eaten Up by Iran War Price Spikes, Experts Say - 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