Why does the IRS give some people a bigger refund than they paid?

Can someone explain how the IRS can give a refund(definition. Return of payment) in excess of the amount someone has paid in taxes. And furthermore, why don't they consider that as income? And along the same lines, why do people without children not get a credit for not adding to the tax burden of society? Not a soap box, I just would like someone to explain the tax laws.

Public Comments

1. "refundable credits" get refunded even if you do not owe tax. Both require earned income. 1. Additional child tax credit. 2. Earned income credit. EIC has a tiny credit for single/no kids, but only for ages 25-65 and it stops if you make more than $12,000 a year. These are welfare bribes to keep poor parents interested in working. If they didn't get them, many would want to go on welfare because their fica/mc taxes are so high. The bribe is so significant that there is massive fraud in this area. By the way, our capitalist system works on the assumption that each generation will be larger than the past one (dumb, dumb, dumb), so we want people to have children.
2. There are two "refundable" credits that can be available to people depending on their situation. "Refundable" means that if they qualify, they get the amount of money whether they paid any taxes or not. I agree that calling that a "refund" misses the definition of the word, but that's what they call it. The two are earned income credit and additional child tax credit, and both tend to go to low and middle income people who qualify. These exist because Congress said they do. Now are you going to argue that this doesn't make sense? What did that ever have to do with what laws Congress passes?