To also explain a part of the American tax system… people who are super excited to get a ton of money back on their taxes via refunds are complete idiots.

That’s a direct function of paying too much withholding and not calibrating against their relevant deductions. Some of these people also feel that their tax burden has gone up if their refund is smaller from one year to the next, which may or may not be accurate.

I hate to break this to you, but the customer pays in all scenarios.

But, yes, the employer should pay a living wage and include their overhead costs into the price of the goods.