I read today that the IRS is severing its ties with ACORN thanks to the
prankster James E. O'Keefe III.
Remember, he's the one who
targeted ACORN because it registers minorities likely to vote against Republicans and
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/09/acorn_videomake.php?page=1">likes to dupe nonwhite, working class people.
He's now the new
hero of the radical right.IRS severs ties with ACORN over scandal
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER (AP) – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON — The IRS says it is severing ties with ACORN, the community activist group involved in a scandal after employees were caught on video giving advice to a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp.
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it would no longer include ACORN in its volunteer tax assistance program. The program offered free tax advice to about 3 million low- and moderate-income tax filers this spring.
The IRS said ACORN, which is short for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, provided help on about 25,000 returns.
~snip~
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i81fKPWi8LvB7KzMo3g0Te60YokQD9AT7N5G1Earlier today, I had read an
excellent piece on the history of ACORN, how it has been a successful grassroots model for defending the poor and workers for 50 years, and how ACORN has been a target of the right virtually since its founding. The article detailed how and why ACORN became involved in tax assistance.
In light of the news of the IRS severing its ties with ACORN, I thought I'd share this:
~snip~
Since the tax advice of a few ACORN employees is at the heart of the current controversy, it might be helpful to understand how and why ACORN became involved in tax assistance.
In late 2003, ACORN launched a four-city program that offered assistance to families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the nation's largest income-support program. It did so in part because the IRS estimated that some 5 million qualified families failed to claim the credit.
ACORN tax preparers were trained and credentialed in coordination with the IRS. ACORN members went door to door to inform people about free tax services and the EITC.
...
ACORN's tax assistance resulted in almost $4 million in tax refunds to low-income families. The next year, ACORN expanded its EITC assistance to 51 cities and generated $19 million in total refunds.
In typical ACORN fashion, its tax-advice service led to direct action. ACORN discovered that poor people who file for the EITC often take out short-term, very-high-interest loans, called Refund Anticipation Loans to receive their money a few days or weeks sooner.
In 2003, more than 50 percent of tax preparers' customers who received an RAL also received the EITC. By some estimates, the almost 200 percent annual interest customers paid on their RALs, plus the associated administrative fees reduced the EITC refunds lower-income households received by more than $500 million.
In the 1990s, when RALs exploded, state attorneys general went after companies like H&R Block for unfair and deceptive practices.
By 2000, according to the New York Times, Block had been sued no fewer than 22 times.
But lawsuits didn't stop tax preparers, or even slow them down, because RALs were extremely profitable. In 1999, H&R block made a profit of over 50 percent on its sale of RALs. In 2004, Jackson Hewitt, the second-largest tax-preparation chain in the country, said that RALs accounted for 29 percent of the company's revenues.
In January 2004, ACORN mounted coordinated actions against H&R Block in 43 cities, accusing it of stealing from low-income communities. Within a month, H& R Block and ACORN reached an agreement: H&R Block agreed to give ACORN money to expand its EITC outreach and eliminate its RAL application fee nationwide. It also agreed to hire and train ACORN members to be tax preparers.
~snip~
The conclusion? Over 10 years, ACORN's direct services and local and state campaigns generated monetary benefits for lower-income households totaling some $15 billion, or $1.5 billion a year. This includes the impact of enacting living-wage or minimum-wage or predatory-lending ordinances or statutes.
http://www.alternet.org/story/142812/acorn%3A_the_most_cost-effective_investment_the_government_%28and_foundations%29_have_ever_made?page=1As the author of this piece noted, "The real purpose of the right's attacks on ACORN is to destroy a remarkably successful 50-year-old grassroots model for defending the poor and workers."
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
