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Tax
time is January for low-wage families:
The
Campaign for Working Families promotes filing for
the Earned Income Tax Credit and opens Free
Tax Services throughout Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA,
January 12, 2006 - January is tax time for low-wage families,
who can receive FAST and FREE tax filing assistance and do not
have to pay sky-high fees to commercial tax preparers.
Seventeen free tax-filing
sites open in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia the week of
January 28, all managed by The Campaign for Working Families. The
Campaign is a nonprofit partnership that promotes free filing of
the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)/PA TAX BACK, and connects
Philadelphia residents to other tax credits, public benefits, and
ways to keep and grow their household incomes.
The locations of the Campaign's
free tax preparation sites and information on EITC eligibility
are available now by calling the Campaign's 24-hour information
line at 215-686-2599 or online at www.gpuac.org.
The phone line is in Spanish and English.
EITC is a tax benefit for
working people who earn low and moderate incomes (less than $37,263
in calendar year 2005). It reduces the tax burden on these workers,
supplements their wages, and helps families pay bills or save for
the future. EITC refunds can be up to $4,400 per year, based on
family size and income.
Over the past three years,
Philadelphia's Campaign for Working Families has brought more than
$45.2 million directly into the homes of low-income working families.
The Campaign is part of a national movement to promote EITC, to
provide free or low cost tax services, and to protect taxpayers
from rip-offs, including Refund Anticipation Loans or Rapid Refunds.
The Campaign for Working
Families 2006 tax season will be officially launched on Tuesday,
January 31, at 9:30 a.m., at Congreso de Latinos Unidos, 216
West Somerset, Philadelphia (zip 19133). Speakers will include:
Cynthia Rios, a working mother of two young children who will
tell about her EITC and how she is saving it to buy her first
home; State Rep. Dwight Evans, who introduced a state EITC this
fall and co-chairs the Governor’s
Task Force for Working Families; and Jean Hunt, executive director
of The Campaign for Working Families. Also: Ilia Garcia,
news anchor, Univision 65 WUVP-TV; and Loraine Ballard Morrill,
news & community affairs director, Clear Channel Radio-Philadelphia. Garcia
and Ballard Morrill are the voices of The Campaign for Working
Families 24-hour phone line (215-686-2599).
An estimated 39,000 eligible
households in Philadelphia do not file EITC claims, leaving approximately
$66.3 million in unclaimed credits. The Brookings study also reports
that, in Philadelphia, more than 41 percent of EITC filers used
commercial tax preparers to obtain Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs).
The interest paid on these loans can
be as high as 700 percent – to provide cash only a few days
before refunds would have arrived (and sometimes no sooner).
The National Consumer Law
Center estimates that consumers paid $1.4 billion in 2003 for RALs.
According to David K. Shipler, author of The Working Poor, Invisible
in America (released February 2004), paid tax preparers in poor
neighborhoods gouge low-income families. "Their gouging tools
are the marvel of electronic filing, the speedy direct deposit
into their bank account, the high-interest loan masquerading as
a 'rapid refund' . . . all promise a sudden flush of dollars to
cash starved families."
The Campaign for Working
Families is managed by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition
(GPUAC). It works with a partnership that includes: Ceiba, City
of Philadelphia: Free Library and Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs,
Community Legal Services, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of
the Delaware Valley, District 1199c, Greater Philadelphia Coalition
Against Hunger, the Internal Revenue Service, PathWays PA, Philadelphia
Citizens for Children and Youth, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO,
Philadelphia County Assistance Office, The Philadelphia Workforce
Development Corporation, The Reinvestment Fund, Transitional Work
Corporation, and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Support
for the 2005 Campaign for Working Families' operations and activities
comes from: Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, The Pennsylvania
Department of Economic and Community Development, The Annie E.
Casey Foundation, The Philadelphia Department of Human Services,
the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development, The
Philadelphia Foundation, Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation,
The Samuel S. Fels Fund, North Central Community Trust Board, American
Heritage Federal Credit Union, Claneil Foundation, Inc., the National
Association of Black Board Accountants and Verizon. In-kind
support: Corporation for National Service: NCCC and VISTA, and
all sixteen Partner agencies. Media sponsors: the Philadelphia
Daily News, 6abc, Univision 65 and Clear Channel.
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