Free tax help offered refunds and relief

By State Senator Gilda Z. Jacobs
Thursday, March 11, 2010

We all know that Michigan is struggling. Some folks are struggling to buy groceries or pay the mortgage. For many at this time of year figuring out how to do their taxes can be another expensive and complicated challenge.

Recently, I joined with Royal Oak Township Recreation Center, Accounting Aid Society, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency, Lighthouse Community Development and Americorp to offer free tax preparation to people who met certain income requirements. We offered two sessions in February and they were extremely successful.

The tax preparers were either professionals or Americorp volunteers who offered this service simply because they had a skill that they could use to help someone else. None of the volunteers did this for a paycheck. The Americorp volunteers made a nine month commitment to travel the country offering this service to communities like ours. Their only pay was a small food stipend, and the gratitude of the people they helped.

People of all ages took advantage of this help. Some were in their 30s and 40s, and many had young children. Many who took advantage of this service qualify for deductions and/or credits, but figuring that out can be difficult. Everyone who came to the free tax preparation service walked away smiling. They all were grateful because by using this service, they could keep their refund instead of paying it to a tax preparation service.

After the first session a woman approached a group of us after she was finished and thanked us. She explained that she had lost her job two years ago and then recently lost her home. Last year a professional service prepared her taxes for $69. This year that same service wanted $500 to prepare her taxes. She was very grateful for the help we provided, but what was even more important to her was that she felt that our volunteers had treated her with dignity and respect.

One gentleman had not done his taxes for three years because he thought that he didn’t have to file since he was unemployed. He came because he was worried about his situation. It turned out that he qualified for thousands of dollars that were due him over the past three years. In another instance, a foster grandparent who walked half a mile to get her taxes done will now have a little bit more money for the children she cares for.

Everyone deserves to be treated well, and those volunteers reminded us of that. Helping people while showing them kindness and dignity was the goal of all of our volunteers, and they certainly met their goal.

Thank you to the groups who made this free service possible: Royal Oak Township Recreation Center, Accounting Aid Society, Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency, Lighthouse Community Development and Americorp. They all made life just a little bit easier for the people they helped.

Please contact Accounting Aid Society at (313) 556-1920 or toll-free at (866) 673-0873 for additional information on future free tax sites.

Senator Gilda Jacobs represents the 14th Senate District. She can be reached toll-free in Lansing at 1-888-937-4453. Visit her website at http://www.senate.mi.gov/jacobs/