Antipoverty Tax Program Offers Relief, Though Often Temporary
DURHAM, N.C. — Karen Spain spent several long months before receiving her tax refund this year in a state of suspended panic. The rent was three months late. Her car’s brakes were shot. And she could no longer afford to pay her electricity bill.
So when the refund finally arrived — a $7,200 cash infusion that was about a third of what she earned all last year as an assistant manager at an auto parts store — it brought a certain measure of relief, both financial and psychological. That did not last long.
“Did we celebrate?” said Ms. Spain, a 49-year-old mother of two. “No. We maintain, that’s all we do. We are just trying to keep our heads above water.”
It is tax time, the season when the country’s largest antipoverty program, the earned income tax credit, plows billions of dollars into mailboxes and bank accounts of low-income working Americans like Ms. Spain. It is the most important financial moment of the year for many people in the bottom half of the wage bracket, a time to pay off old bills, make car repairs, buy children clothes and maybe make a big purchase like a refrigerator or a TV.
Read the rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/us/antipoverty-tax-program-offers-relief-though-temporary.html?_r=1