KENTUCKY YOUTH ADVOCATES - Media Release

For Immediate Release

January 30, 2008

Contact:

Terry Brooks

Office: 502-895-8167 x113

Cell: 502-235-2396

Tracy Goff-Herman

Office: 502-895-8167 x121

Cell: 502-298-6987

JANUARY 31st is NATIONAL EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT (EITC) AWARENESS DAY

Coalitions Gather to Celebrate Success of Federal Program, Highlight Free Tax Preparation Sites, and Advance State-level EITC for Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky.– Members of nine coalitions that run free tax-preparation sites, Internal Revenue Service officials, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kentucky Domestic Violence Association and other partners from across Kentucky will gather to celebrate the federal government’s largest program benefiting working families – the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) – and to move the agenda forward towards state EITC legislation. 

       The groups will hold a press conference at the Black & Williams Neighborhood Center at 498 Georgetown St. in Lexington at 12:30pm on Thursday, January 31st.

Sixty-six Free Tax-Preparation Sites Offer Services

        EITC Awareness Day is a nationwide effort to call attention to the EITC and free tax-preparation sites.  The IRS estimates as many as 20 percent of families who qualify for the EITC don’t claim it because they don’t know about it. Families with two or more children who claim the credit can receive as much as $4,716. 

      The nine coalitions are operating 66 sites this tax season. Last year the coalitions filed taxes for at least 12,000 families, returning nearly $13 million in state and federal refunds to their communities. The coalitions also saved families at least $1.2 million in tax-preparation fees and high-interest refund anticipation loans.

Federal EITC: a Success Story

        The federal EITC helped Jaye Forsythe become a home owner.

       Nine years ago, Forsythe was unemployed and receiving welfare benefits. She started working eight years ago and has claimed the EITC every year since. She’s used it to buy a car, make home repairs and build a savings account.

         “I try to tell everyone I know about it because it has been such a blessing in my life,” said Forsythe who lives with her nine-year-old son, Jordan in Lexington.

        “The lesson learned from the federal EITC is that it works.  Given the pervasive nature of poverty in the Commonwealth, we need to seize on this idea – championed by national leaders from Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton – and create Kentucky’s own anti-poverty campaign,” said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. “I am encouraged by the broad and diverse partner base committed to this effort.

A State EITC would Help Kentucky's Working Families

     Enacting a state EITC is part of the broad-based Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children, an initiative on which more than fifty divergent groups have been working for over a year.  “Today gives us a perfect chance to celebrate progress on a federal level and to think about applying that success on a state level,” said Ed Monahan, Executive Director of Kentucky Catholic Conference.

     A brief released today by Kentucky Youth Advocates outlines the significant difference a state EITC would make for working families. A state EITC would also give a boost to local economies as low-income families are likely to spend their refunds at local businesses.

     Research shows that the EITC is a policy that works and is a proven method for getting people off of welfare. By piggybacking off of the federal EITC, a refundable state EITC would be simple to adminster and would not require more governmental infrastructure.

     Twenty-two states, the District of Columbia, New York City, and Montgomery County, Maryland, also offer their residents an earned income tax credit, increasing the benefit to low-income workers in these areas.  Current legislative efforts reflect proposals around a range of EITC levels.

     “While we encourage legislators to look at the highest possible level for enacting a state EITC, the real imperative is to begin somewhere.  The national record is clear – when states enact an EITC, low income families are helped and the local economy is stimulated.  Rarely do you find such a win-win for public policy,” Brooks added.

       For more information about a state EITC, see Kentucky Youth Advocates' issue brief A State-Earned Income Tax Credit Would Help Kentucky’s Working Families or read our State Earned Income Credit Fact Sheet. (Both publications are available on KYA's website at http://www.kyyouth.org)

Speakers at the press conference will include:

• Jaye Forsythe, federal EITC recipient
• Mary O'Doherty, Kentucky Domestic Violence Association
• Representatives from Free Tax Prep Site Coalitions
• Terry Brooks, Kentucky Youth Advocates
• Tracy Goff-Herman, Kentucky Youth Advocates