Getting a refund does not necessarily mean that you paid zero or negative tax, that's true, but when you pay zero or negative tax you do get a refund too. E.g.

Getting a refund does not necessarily mean that you paid zero or negative tax, that's true, but when you pay zero or negative tax you do get a refund too. E.g. you can get negative taxation through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_income_tax_credit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_income_tax_credit