Title
Honoring the Campaign for Working Families for assisting low and moderate income Philadelphians through their work and promotion of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.
Body
WHEREAS, The Campaign for Working Families (“Campaign”) is managed by the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition and works in partnership with Ceiba, Free Library of the City of Philadelphia, Mayor’s Office of Consumer Affairs, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Delaware Valley, Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger, federal Internal Revenue Service, Path Ways PA, Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation, The Reinvestment Fund, Transitional Work Corporation, and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The Campaign and its partners promote the free filing of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (“EITC”), a tax refund that can reach $4,300 for families with incomes less than $35,000 a year, and connect Philadelphia residents to other tax credits, public benefits, and ways to keep and grow their household income; and
WHEREAS, The Campaign works to increase the number of people who receive free tax filing assistance and will not have to pay exorbitant fees to commercial tax preparers and the Campaign is part of a national movement to promote the EITC, provide free or low cost tax services, and protect taxpayers from Refund Anticipation Loans; and
WHEREAS, According to a study by the Brookings Institution, about 45,000 eligible households in Philadelphia do not file EITC refunds, annually leaving approximately $76.5 million in unclaimed credits that are not invested into the City’s economy; and
WHEREAS, The Brookings’ study also indicated that in Philadelphia more than 41% of EITC filers used commercial tax preparers to obtain Refund Anticipation Loans, which charged interest as high as 800% for EITC refunds that could have been filed for free and received within a few days; and
WHEREAS, The locations of the Campaign’s 22 free tax preparation neighborhood sites (open on January 15) and information on EITC eligibility is available on the website www.gpuac.org, or by calling the Campaign’s 24-hour information line at 215-686-2599 between January 15 and April 15; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby honor the Campaign for Working Families for assisting low and moderate income Philadelphians through their work and promotion of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to a representative of the Campaign for Working Families as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
End