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Taxes
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Save the Earned Income Tax Credit
15 Apr 2011 by Jeremy / No Comments
There is a larger constituency for North Carolina’s Earned Income Tax Credit than there are millionaires and billionaires in our state. That is not stopping Republicans in the state legislature from targeting this critical tax break for working families for elimination.
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Tax Credit for Working Families Under Attack
18 Feb 2011 by Jeremy / No Comments
The state EITC is under attack and we need your help to protect this important policy for North Carolina’s working families. House Bill 93 would eliminate the refundable nature of the state EITC. Refundability is essential to ensuring that the state EITC targets those most in need. It also offsets the greater share of total taxes these families pay as compared to those with higher income.
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IRS VITA Program Offers Free Filing
16 Feb 2011 by Jeremy / No Comments
If you or someone you know needs help preparing their tax returns, the IRS has a network of volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) providers who can do so at no charge.
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G.O.P. Embrace Fiscal “Insanity”
19 Nov 2010 by Jeremy / No Comments
How did we get here?
When the Congress passed the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, they decided to include a sunset provision. Unless a future Congress renewed them, a Republican Congress and Republican President decided their tax cuts would expire December 31, 2010.
Now that time has come, and one of the more important action items on the agenda of the lame-duck 111th Congress is to decide which tax cuts should be extended and which should be allowed to expire.
Democrats, who, for now, still control both sides of Congress, and President Obama want to extend the tax cuts for everyone except those making more than $250,000 / year. People making more than that amount would still pay reduced taxes up to that amount, but on income above and beyond that amount, they would pay more.
Sounds reasonable, right? The vast majority (98%) of American tax payers get to keep their tax cut, and the millionaires and billionaires among us would pay what they were always going to pay since the Republicans, years ago, had decided the cuts wouldn’t last forever.
Republicans: Give us our millionaire cuts or nobody gets any!
Not so fast! Key House Republicans are vowing to block middle class tax cuts if the rich aren’t given their fair share.
When word of a compromise that would split the vote on extension into two votes – one on middle-class tax cuts and another on the millionaire tax cuts – the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, which handles taxes, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), responded that “the GOP will block any proposal that extends tax cuts for the middle class for a longer period than those for the wealthy.”
The Republican plan to include an extension for the very wealthiest tax payers alone – the top two percent of earners – would cost $690 billion over ten years to borrow the money plus $140 in interest on the debt. That’s $830 billion for tax cuts that only benefit 2% of tax payers.
“Let millionaires fend for themselves for a change”
“The election is over and now it’s time for politicians to show courage and stand and fight on these issues for working families. Let millionaires fend for themselves for a change,” said Rich Trumka, AFL-CIO President in a statement on the AFL-CIO Blog:
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said it is “absolutely insane” that in these tough economic times some people want to continue the “tax give-aways to millionaires while working families are losing their jobs, their benefits and their homes.”
“We need to focus on creating jobs by giving tax breaks only to middle-class families and investing in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and green technologies. Millionaires and Wall Street already had their party, which tanked our economy and left Main Street stuck paying the bill.”
Even some millionaires are starting to speak out against Republican efforts to make their temporary tax cuts permanent. A group which describes itself as Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength has launched a website where millionaire tax payers can sign a petition urging President Obama to fight to let the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich enter the dust bin of history:
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to urge you to stand firm against those who would put politics ahead of their country.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
We have done very well over the last several years. Now, during our nation’s moment of need, we are eager to do our fair share. We don’t need more tax cuts, and we understand that cutting our taxes will increase the deficit and the debt burden carried by other taxpayers. The country needs to meet its financial obligations in a just and responsible way.
Letting tax cuts for incomes over $1,000,000 expire, is an important step in that direction.
Would that we had more economic patriots in the Congress, of which 44% of members are themselves millionaires, we could afford to make the investments we need in job creation and rebuilding our infrastructure that would ensure the strength of our nation for years to come.
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Billionaires Get all the (Tax) Breaks
23 Jun 2010 by Jeremy / No Comments
Top tax rates plummet even as incomes ‘skyrocket’
The world has turned upside down. Over the past few decades, if you were among the richest 400 taxpayers in the United States, the more money you made, the less you paid in taxes. That’s the finding of a new report issued by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
The top 400 households paid 16.6 percent of their income in federal individual income taxes in 2007, down from 30 percent in 1995. This decline works out to a tax cut of $46 million per filer in 2007, or a total of $18 billion in tax cuts for these households per year.
That’s serious money not available to spend on creating jobs, extending unemployment benefits, providing public education, fixing our broken infrastructure, or transitioning to a clean energy economy.
System rigged to benefit insanely rich
The reason for the decline in the effective tax rate is the top 400 filers earn most of their money (66%) from capital gains and stock dividends – income taxed at 15%, less than half the tax paid on ordinary income. The Republican controlled Congress slashed capital gains taxes in 1997 and again in 2003. The tax on capital gains is now almost half what it was under Ronald Reagan (28%).
The rich are getting richer, too. During the last economic expansion from 2002 to 2007, two-thirds of the wealth generated went to 1% of the population. Even as the incomes of the super rich exploded, they paid less in taxes than teachers, fire fighters, or doctors. In fact, the top 400 filers actually made more after taxes:
Because of the steep reduction in effective tax rates for the top 400 households, their after-tax incomes grew even faster than their pre-tax incomes. Between 1992 and 2007, their average income after federal income taxes increased by 475 percent.
The next time you hear a candidate for U.S. Senate claim we can’t afford to extend unemployment benefits, COBRA subsidies, or provide aid to cash-strapped states to avoid draconian cuts to education and other public services, think of the 400 richest Americans – in a nation of 300 million – whose income we subsidize every year to the tune of $18 BILLION.
Click here to read the full report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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Don’t Forget the Earned Income Tax Credit!
13 Apr 2010 by Jeremy / No Comments
Take your money. You’ve earned it!Did you or your family earn less than $48,279 in 2009? You may be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $5,657 this year, but you have to file your return by April 15, 2010.
The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, provides tax credits to working adults and families with low or moderate incomes. Single working adults and married couples without children are even eligible for tax credits of up to $457, and the average EITC refund is more than $1000 per family.
You may be eligible for this tax credit even if you receive government benefits like Social Security, welfare, or unemployment benefits, or other income like child support or alimony, since these are not considered to be earned income.
In North Carolina, more than 100,000 people who are eligible for the EITC fail to claim it every year, leaving more than $100 million dollars unclaimed! At a time when many families are struggling due to the country’s economic crisis, you cannot afford to leave your money unclaimed. This money can be used to buy things you and your family need, like a more reliable vehicle, to pay down your debt, for education or starting your own business, or to save for a home. Click here for a publication about the EITC, Helping North Carolinians Qualify for the New State Earned Income Tax Credit (PDF), from the NC Department of Revenue.
To claim the federal EITC, you must file your federal tax return and for the state of N.C. EITC, you must file a state of NC tax return. If you need help to file your tax return, VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) provides free tax preparation services for families with incomes under $50,000, so you can save the money you might pay for tax filing assistance.
For more information about your eligibility for the tax credits, and to find a VITA tax preparation site near you, call the toll-free tax help line at 1-888-927-3230, or visit www.eitc-carolinas.org. Take your money, you earned it!
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Relief for the Middle Class at Tax Time
13 Apr 2010 by Jeremy / No Comments
Chances are good you’ll pay less in taxes this year
One of candidate Obama’s main campaign promises was to reduce the tax burden on the middle class. President Obama made that promise a reality when he signed the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (aka the stimulus). Over 1/3 of all money in the Recovery Act was tax cuts. Ninety-five percent of all Americans received a tax cut because of the Recovery Act. The Recovery Act created new tax credits and expanded eligibility for several others, including:
- The Earned Income Tax Credit (federal and state) worth up to $5,657.
- The Child Tax Credit worth up to $1,000 per child.
- The Making Work Pay Tax Credit worth up to $400 or $800 for join-filers.
- Economic Recovery payments up to $250.
- The First-Time Homebuyer Credit worth $8,000.
- Residential Energy Credits up to $1500.
- The New Sales Tax Deduction for Vehicle Purchases.
- Tax-Free unemployment benefits up to $2,400.
- COBRA subsidies of up to 65% of the cost of medical insurance premiums.
The President covered many of the new provisions in tax law in his recent weekly address:
It’s not too late to get the tax credits owed to you
If you’re like many Americans who filed their tax return already, you can amend your return – even after April 15 – to get the tax credits owed to you. These credits aren’t a hand out – they’re the law. It’s your money. Take the credit.
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Don’t Forget the Earned Income Tax Credit!
13 Apr 2010 by Jeremy / No Comments
Take your money. You’ve earned it!
Did you or your family earn less than $48,279 in 2009? You may be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $5,657 this year!
The Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, provides tax credits to working adults and families with low or moderate incomes. Single working adults and married couples without children are even eligible for tax credits of up to $457, and the average EITC refund is more than $1000 per family.
You may be eligible for this tax credit even if you receive government benefits like Social Security, welfare, or unemployment benefits, or other income like child support or alimony, since these are not considered to be earned income.
In North Carolina, more than 100,000 people who are eligible for the EITC fail to claim it every year, leaving more than $100 million dollars unclaimed! At a time when many families are struggling due to the country’s economic crisis, you cannot afford to leave your money unclaimed. This money can be used to buy things you and your family need, like a more reliable vehicle, to pay down your debt, for education or starting your own business, or to save for a home. Click here for a publication about the EITC, Helping North Carolinians Qualify for the New State Earned Income Tax Credit (PDF), from the NC Department of Revenue.
To claim the federal EITC, you must file your federal tax return and for the state of N.C. EITC, you must file a state of NC tax return. If you need help to file your tax return, VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) provides free tax preparation services for families with incomes under $50,000, so you can save the money you might pay for tax filing assistance.
For more information about your eligibility for the tax credits, and to find a VITA tax preparation site near you, call the toll-free tax helpline at 1-888-927-3230, or visit www.eitc-carolinas.org. Take your money, you earned it!
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