re: Why are people excited about a tax refund?

Congress and the IRS know it is not easy to determine how much tax you owe for a given year, and that calculating the tax is not a simple exercise. That is why they provide safe harbor rules with little, or no, calculations for avoiding penalties for underpayment of estimated taxes.

For the vast majority of taxpayers it is completely unnecessary. For some it is advisable to do so once before the end of the year. There are relatively few taxpayers for whom it makes sense to determine the amount to deposit on a quarterly basis.