Low-income residents urged to get tax help

By Kelly Rayburn  |  Oakland Tribune  |  Link to article
March 28, 2009

OAKLAND — Low-income families were urged Saturday to take advantage of free tax assistance in claiming a federal tax credit that can provide families with up to $4,800 in refunds.

In a down economy, with social services on the chopping block, it's important for low-income families to get what they deserve when filing tax returns, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said.

"These credits are vital and extremely important to the working poor," Lee said. "It's putting money that they have earned into their pockets, into bank accounts and into the community."

Lee joined state Controller John Chiang in discussing the credit in East Oakland as people were getting help on their taxes Saturday afternoon. They were at the Roots International Academy and the Coliseum College Prep Academy, two schools on the former Havenscourt Middle School campus in the 1300 block of 66th Avenue.

Lee and Chiang praised the efforts of Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, a United Way of the Bay Area-led group offering free tax help, including assistance in ensuring Bay Area families qualifying receive the Earned Income Tax Credit. The credit is designed for low- and moderate-income working individuals and families.

Lee and her congressional staff are credited with playing a key role in creating the organization that became Earn It! Keep It! Save It! in 2002 and 2003, when Lee grew concerned over how many of her constituents in Oakland were not claiming tax credits to which they were entitled.

The initiative began in Oakland in the 2003 tax year, with tax filers taking in $1.8 million in the Earned Income Tax Credit and $3 million in tax returns in total through the help they received, according to Carole Watson, the chief community investment officer for the United Way of the Bay Area. Earn It! Keep It! Save It! has since expanded and now includes 171 sites in eight counties around the Bay Area, and it has helped families collect more than $100 million in refunds, Watson said.

Households earning less than $45,000 in 2008 are eligible for the free services. The organization said more than $75 million in federal tax credits go unclaimed by the Bay Area working poor every year. And Chiang said statewide one in every four or five households eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit fails to take advantage of it.

"Hundreds of millions of dollars are left back in Washington, D.C.," he said.

When collected, "This is money in the accounts of individuals that can start to transform their lives, can help bring the dreams they need," he said.