Why is my married filing jointly tax return less than my or my spouse's individual tax returns?

[archamandite]

Before marrying, the two of us filed separately and each received an average refund. However, after filing jointly, our combined return was equivalent to only one of our returns, rather than two of them combined. I had expected a larger refund with us filing together, especially with the perks of married filing jointly! 

[CherylW]

Congratulations!

The reason may be you're now in a new tax bracket.

Below are the tax rate schedules for 2018.  

[archamandite]

Thank you! We are not in a new tax bracket, unfortunately. I just think it's odd that we should be getting a smaller return by filing jointly than if we had filed individually, when supposedly filing jointly married should carry greater incentive and tax breaks.