Arizona is a community property state. Normally, this means that your income and deductions are split between you 50-50.
But injured spouse is not done this way.
Distilling it down, in a community property state, the income and deductions allocated to the injuring spouse are used to calculate the amount of the refund for that spouse (to be taken for the debt), but 1/2 of the remaining income and deductions is split between the two spouses (community property), so the injured spouse gets credit for only half of what remains.
So in the case that the two spouses made approximately equals amounts, the injured spouse would appear to get only 1/4th the income and expenses credited to her/him. It's worse, of course, if the injured spouse makes less than the other spouse.
The only consolation is that the debt gets paid off more quickly - as has apparently happened.
