What is a tax deduction? Does that mean that I would pay that money or that I would receive that money back on my taxes? ?

[Anita01]

A deduction does not mean either.  It's an amount that you don't have to pay tax on.  For example, If you had $5,000 in income, and a $1,000 deduction, you would  only have to pay tax on $4,000 of income.  What you save by having a deduction is only the amount of tax you would have paid on that amount of income.  Since you had a deduction of $1,000 in income, you save the tax you would have paid on that $1,000.  The exact amount depends on your tax rate.  If you're paying 10% in tax on your income, you would save $100 by having this deduction.