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Admonishing the United States Department of Treasury, acting by and through the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR), acting by and through its secretary, to provide annual, plain, English and Spanish notice to eligible Philadelphia taxpayers of the availability of earned income tax credits, advanced earned income tax credits, and similar benefits prior to the April 15 deadline for the filing of tax returns.
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WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission has found that an estimated $76.5 million in tax credits available under state and federal income tax earned income credit programs were not claimed by low and moderate income Philadelphia households; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia is a community that has been directly and negatively impacted by the recent recession and endemic problems of job and population loss; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that the citizens of the City of Philadelphia are enabled to maximize the benefit of earned tax credit and like programs; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Tax Reform commission estimates that at least 45,000 Philadelphia households are eligible for such state and federal income tax relief; and
WHEREAS, In 2002, the IRS sent notices to only 958,000 taxpayers (a miniscule percentage of potentially eligible taxpayers nationwide), advising them of the existence of federal earned income tax credits and to the knowledge of this Council has never followed up with even that level of inadequate notice since 2002; and
WHEREAS, The Commonwealth’s sister State of Delaware requires its income taxing authority to notify welfare recipients of the availability of earned income tax credits; and
WHEREAS, The State of Illinois requires employers to notify qualifying employees of the availability of earned income tax credits; and
WHEREAS, The State of New York requires its income taxing authority to periodically alert taxpayers of the availability of earned income tax credits; and
WHEREAS, The State of Missouri requires employers who do not provide full time health insurance coverage to their full time employees to notify subject employees of the federal earned income tax credit for the purchase of health insurance coverage, requiring such employers to assist subject employees in completing necessary forms; and
WHEREAS, IRS and DOR should, at a minimum, send annual, plain, English and Spanish notices of the availability of earned income tax credit programs to all potentially eligible taxpayers in Philadelphia and elsewhere, which forms should be similar to those attached hereto as Exhibit A (developed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) at least sixty (60) days prior to the April 15 return filing deadline in order to properly fulfill the intention of Congress and the Commonwealth’s legislature in enacting such programs in the first instance, and by so doing properly discharge their duties owed Philadelphians and other; and
WHEREAS, This City Council stands ready to assist the IRS and DOR in delivering such notices to eligible Philadelphia households; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That this legislative body admonishes the IRS and DOR to work with the City of Philadelphia to provide annual plain English and Spanish notice to eligible Philadelphia households of the availability of state and federal income earned income tax credit programs.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk shall forward a copy of this Resolution to the Commissioner of the IRS and the Secretary of the DOR.
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