Center on Business and Poverty

3/31/2009 (edited)

By David Morrison, Credit Union Times

A research report from the Filene Research Institute proposed that credit unions should consider offering tax preparation services for more than just low income members or lower income communities.

Instead, John Hoffmire and Thomas Harms argue in The Economics of Serving Low‑Income Employees at Tax Time: Implications for Credit Unions that credit unions should consider using the workplace to offer tax preparation services not just to their own lower income employees but low income employees of Select Employee Groups as well.

By TAMAR LEWIN, NY Times
Published: February 21, 2009

Created in 1992 to simplify applying for financial aid, it has become so intimidating — with more than 100 questions — that critics say it scares off the very families most in need, preventing some teenagers from going to college.

Then, too, some families have begun paying for professional help with the form, known as the Fafsa,a situation that experts say indicates just how far awry the whole process has gone.

Private employers help promote the EITC

Some private companies are expanding their role from employing people to empowering them. One tool of choice is the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which provides refundable tax credits to low- and moderate-income workers.

Durham, NC -- Volunteers from Duke Law School will prepare tax returns for Duke employees free of charge. To be eligible for the Volunteer Income Tax Service, known as VITA, employees must earn less than $30,000 annually.

Among the locations, Duke Law students, faculty and staff will be at the Duke University Federal Credit Union, 2200 West Main St. Appointments can be scheduled from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 8, 15, 22 and 29, and on April 4. To make an appointment at the credit union, clients must visit the Erwin Square Plaza branch.

By JOHN MARKOFF
Palo Alto, Calif.

STEVE WOZNIAK built the original Apple I to share with his friends at the Homebrew Computer Club, but it was his business partner Steve Jobs who had the insight that there might be a market for such a contraption. Indeed, for decades, Silicon Valley has been defined by the tension between the technologist’s urge to share information and the industrialist’s incentive to profit.

Now a new style of “hybrid” technology organization is emerging that is trying to define a path between the nonprofit world and traditional for-profit ventures.

By Emily Sachs
Community Dividend
2008 Issue No. 1
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/cd/08-1/eitc.cfm?js=0%20%3C/noscript%

Since the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) was added to the U.S. tax code 32 years ago, it has become the leading federal program for boosting the incomes of the working poor. Traditional cash aid, like that of the former welfare system, did little to encourage recipients to join the workforce and change their socioeconomic status. But by virtue of being directly tied to earnings, the EITC essentially subsidizes work.

Despite underfunding, they help small firms
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By JOHN SCHMID
Posted: Dec. 2, 2007

Paulette Smith didn't choose to be a business owner. But when her 34-year-old son, Stacey Currie, was killed in a inner city shooting three years ago, Smith took over his auto-detailing business, determined to keep it going despite her admitted lack of experience.