Travis County Commssioners Court
January 21, 2003
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Item 14
Now, number 14 is to approve resolution joining the internal revenue service and the Austin asset building coalition and promote -- in promoting awareness of earned income tax credits and other tax benefits and endorsing financial literacy for individuals and families.
>> thank you.
>> good morning.
>> good morning, judge. I would like to introduce bill hubbard from the i.r.s., He is the court -- he's outreach and education coordinator for south and central Texas. The resolution that you have before you is something that we in health and human services certainly support because it provides an opportunity for low income elderly and disabled individuals to -- to take advantage, I think, of an opportunity.
>> judge, commissioners, I appreciate the opportunity to come and talk to you just briefly about the earned income credit and our partnership with several local community agencies and government entities to promote the earned income tax credit. And -- in the Austin metro area and Travis County, that's worth about $70 million annually to the individuals who are referred to as working low and moderate income taxpayers. This year that threshold is somewhere around $34,000. What we are trying to do is build a cooperative with several providers to provide free income tax service and expand what has been a -- a moderately small program into a large program and this -- in this area. We are excited to work with the Travis County -- with Travis County and other agencies to -- to take this to the next level and bring in financial literacy into the free income tax assistance program, which is -- which has not existed before in this area. We are real excited to -- to be partners with the coalition for financial literacy here in central Texas. And to -- to bring the earned income tax credit and financial literacy programs together so that the thousands of working taxpayers that are eligible for income tax can eventually start building wealth and improve the quality of their life. That's what's important about this cooperative. In fact for years the i.r.s. Has delivered a free tax assistance program at about 3,000 tax returns per year. We see that as great opportunity to expand our reach and couple our resources and lerchl with the county and the -- leverage with the county and other agencies. That's a brief background, I help to come back and provide you a written report at the end of the file season, in cooperation with partners here in Travis County and let you know our accomplishments at the end of the filing season. Thank you for your time.
>> thank you.
>> question that I have is after reading literature last night, I guess this -- this is what we had in our backup before today. This is the piece that we hope to mail out --
>> that's the brochure that we are going to have available at all of the county sites. The assistant center sites, we want to be able to pass those out to the people who are coming to us for assistance. In addition we would like to be able to put those at some of the city of Austin libraries so that the word gets out to an even greater audience.
>> when I looked at it. I guess I was left with the -- with the -- I was not left with a clear impression of exactly who it is that we are targeting.
>> right.
>> if I have a great aunt who is caring for a great neice's child, then I think she qualifies. Do we say here what ought to alert you.
>> the i.r.s. Has some separate brochures that are also going to be available at all of the same distribution centers. That explain who is eligible and, you know, how you go about figuring out whether you are eligible based on your income and your family size, so there's two separate brochures, this one the purpose of it was really to make people aware of the specific sites in the Austin area, where they could go to get the free tax help, so --
>> this one says there is free tax help available if you qualify. The first question after you read that is do I qualify or not? And -- is there a way to come up with a simple short paragraph that says, if you meet these income guidelines, you may well qualify for this free tax service and in a --
>> should that be in this.
>> I think so. What we can do is modify that to put some general eligibility criteria. That will clue people in as to whether or not they are close to qualifying. We do that in other brochures.
>> simply put, judge, I think you might be asking what the income thresholds are. The i.r.s. Targeted $34,000 and below. There are some sites who expand that aarp, the aarp lowly does return that's are higher income levels than that, but they target elderly. We are targeting working families and individuals at $34,000 and below.
>> all I'm saying in addition to --
>> we will.
>> important important than the locations it would seem to me would be eligibility requirements. Because if you are left with the impression that you do qualify in order to take advantage of a service, the next question is where can I get it. Do a good job of indicating all of the sites.
>> that makes sense.
>> if you could use language like a flat dollar amount, that was very easy toed in as opposed to a percentage of the federal poverty guideline. Stay away from percentage, flat outnumbers are much easier toed in. Any more discussion of 14? Move approval.
>> second.
>> all in favor?
>> with those modifications, right, judge?
>> recommendations.
>> recommendations. Okay. 14 is a resolution. 15 is the brochure.
>> as far as the family is concerned, but -- okay, go ahead.
>> all in favor of 14? That passes unanimously.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 2, 2003 10:25 AM