{"id":1885708,"date":"2026-04-16T10:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1885708"},"modified":"2026-04-16T10:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T07:04:31","slug":"stephen-colbert-breaks-down-the-reality-of-trumps-tax-refunds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1885708","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert breaks down the reality of Trump&#8217;s tax refunds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/videos\/00OvMSrFTM8BQXlkkGcmmT3\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1776333243.png&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article data-autopogo class=\"mt-8 font-serif editor-content\">\n<p>It&#8217;s Tax Day in the U.S. and those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/12\/18\/trump-bigger-tax-refunds.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">super-charged tax refunds<\/a> promised by Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill&#8221; are on the way, right? Well&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/stephen-colbert\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Stephen Colbert<\/a> pointed out during <em>The Late Show <\/em>on Wednesday night, while the average individual tax refund will indeed be <a href=\"https:\/\/taxfoundation.org\/blog\/2026-irs-data-tax-filing-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">$748 higher<\/a> this year due to the Republican-backed bill, the average U.S. household could pay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/03\/26\/high-gas-prices-iran-war-tax-refunds.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">$740 more<\/a> for gasoline, thanks to the ongoing U.S. war with Iran. So, what&#8217;s the difference?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let&#8217;s see&#8230; that is&#8230;eight bucks. That&#8217;s eight bucks. So congratulations, everybody,&#8221; Colbert said. &#8220;Eight bucks doesn&#8217;t sound like much, but may I remind you that&#8217;ll get you eight lotto tickets, which also happens to be Trump&#8217;s health care plan.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Colbert noted one person who&#8217;s seemingly not concerned with oil prices and inflation, Trump&#8217;s Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2026\/04\/06\/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-nec-director-kevin-hassett.html\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">who told CNBC on Tuesday<\/a>, &#8220;Imagine if oil prices start going back down, because the situation resolves itself somehow, that you could be looking at an inflation close to zero.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yes, the situation might resolve itself somehow,&#8221; responded Colbert, in full sarcasm mode. &#8220;Until then, all America has to do is use their <em>imagination<\/em>. My friends, imagine a car made of liquorice somehow, and it somehow runs on dreams, and somehow your best friend is a musical dog and Kevin Hassett isn&#8217;t an idiot, somehow.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Want more of the best of late night? Sign up for Mashable&#8217;s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Top Stories newsletter<\/a><\/em><\/strong><strong><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<section class=\"mx-auto max-w-7xl\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap mt-8 w-full font-sans subtitle-2 editor-content\">\n<p><span class=\"mr-1.5 font-sans font-bold\">Topics<\/span><a class=\"underline-link hover:no-underline text-secondary-300 \" href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/stephen-colbert\" aria-label=\"Navigate to the Stephen Colbert tag\" data-ga-click data-ga-label=\"$text\">Stephen Colbert<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/mashable.com\/video\/stephen-colbert-late-show-trump-tax-refund&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/videos\/00OvMSrFTM8BQXlkkGcmmT3\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1776333243.png&#8221;] It&#8217;s Tax Day in the U.S. and those super-charged tax refunds promised by Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Big Beautiful Bill&#8221; are on the way, right? Well&#8230; As Stephen Colbert pointed out during The Late Show on Wednesday night, while the average individual tax refund will indeed be $748 higher this year due to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,75],"class_list":["post-1885708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-mashable-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1885708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1885708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1885708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1885708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}