by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Children’s Commission will partner with the Internal Revenue Service to educate the City’s lowest paid workers on tax breaks that could return $100 million.
Local philanthropic organizations will join the Prosperity Campaign, which seeks to raise awareness among low-wage workers of the Earned Income Tax Credit. The tax break is worth as much as $4,000 annually to workers who qualify.
Pam Paul, the JCC’s chief operating officer, said only half the estimated 127,000 potential qualifiers filed for the credit last year. Boosting that number by 15-to-20 percent would return up to $44 million. Additionally, qualifiers could seek retroactive payment on the past four years’ credits, which would return up to $12,000 per taxpayer. That windfall has the potential to return about $130 million to Jacksonville’s poorest communities.
Paul said many qualifiers don’t know about the credits or don’t seek them because of a negative stigma. She said the campaign would enlist help from employers of low-wage workers to educate their workforce about the credits. The campaign will also provide financial advice on how to best use the funds.
“We want these workers to know: this money is available to you,” said Paul. “We’re always trying to figure out how to get more State or City funding to help the disadvantaged; well this is an easy no-brainer. These dollars are already there; it’s just a matter of letting people know they should ask for it.”
According to Debra Yates, an IRS senior tax specialist, a married couple with children would need to earn less than $34,692 to qualify. Single workers would need to earn less than $12,000. The EITC website lists qualifying criteria.
Yates said the campaign was still in its organizational stage, but said the IRS would educate potential qualifiers about the credits during the coming tax season. She said the IRS would provide free tax advice to low-wage earners, and would advise qualifiers to claim the credits. She said computer-literate volunteers were needed to help guide the claimants through a simple, computer-aided filing system.
Although it may seem a contradiction for the IRS to return money to taxpayers, Yates said her organization shared the City’s interest in helping low-wage workers.
“We’re interested in bringing money into a community that needs it,” said Yates. “This will be bringing a lot more income into the City and studies have shown when people get this money, they’re not running off to the Bahamas, they’re spending this money on necessities for themselves and their families.”