The Give Paychecks a Boost campaign increases awareness about and participation in state and federal tax credits for low-income workers to put money back in the pockets of hard working people in Allegheny County. Many eligible workers do not file for valuable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Pennsylvania Tax Back. The EITC alone is worth up to $4,716 and can increase a family’s income by as much as 40%. In 2003 the EITC brought over $105 million to 68,500 Allegheny County families. For information about who’s eligible, click here. The campaign has four components: Outreach – every year we print and distribute thousands of brochures and talk to hundreds of working people about the EITC, Child Tax Credit, PA Tax Back and free tax assistance through partnerships with government, social service, business, labor, media and community organizations. Free Tax Assistance – Just Harvest provides free tax preparation assistance to low-income workers at our office on the South Side during tax season so that low-income workers can keep their whole refund and don’t get trapped in predatory Refund Anticipation Loans. For more information, click here. Advocacy – we work at the federal, state and local level to help these credits expand and to reduce the barriers to filing returns. Collaboration and Technical Assistance - the Give Paychecks a Boost campaign partners with community, government, labor, media, business, and social service agencies to distribute information about tax credits and free tax assistance. We also provide technical assistance to organizations who are interested in starting a new free tax assistance site. You Can Help! Your influence and contacts at the grass-roots level can help many eligible low-to-moderate wage earners by alerting them to valuable supplemental tax programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and PA Tax Back. You are invited to partner with the Give Paychecks a Boost campaign by informing employees, consumers, members, and/or volunteers of your workplace or organization about special tax benefits. They, in turn, can inform others until we get everyone eligible to file! Get the FREE brochures, posters, envelope stuffers and other materials for your bulletin boards, reception areas or display racks. Materials are available from Just Harvest, the PA State Department of Revenue and the IRS. Include working people's tax benefit information in your newsletters, pay stubs, internal workshops, and any trainings or events related to jobs, self-sufficiency or other issues of concern to low-to-moderate wage earners. Host speakers who can give presentations about tax benefit programs to your members, conferences or network meetings. Just Harvest can speak, answer questions or simply set up an information table at community meetings, schools, cultural and educational fairs, trade shows or other events. Hold a workshop for human resources staff, job developers, social workers, case managers and/or others who have direct contact with low-income wage earners or job applicants. Smaller organizations may wish to join with others for a joint training. This is NOT about preparing tax returns, but about spreading the information on the various tax programs. Volunteer at a VITA site and encourage your members or employees to do the same. This is a great opportunity to provide meaningful assistance to low-income workers. The local IRS Stakeholders, Partnerships, Education, and Communication (SPEC) office provides training and support to volunteers. They can also connect you with an organization in your area that needs VITA volunteers. Just Harvest will need volunteers during the tax season to prepare taxes and to provide other supportive services at our office on the South Side. Start a new VITA site by providing a location and recruiting volunteers so more members of your community can have their taxes prepared free of charge. Participate in advocacy efforts to create a state Earned Income Credit and regulate predatory Refund Anticipation Loan Providers. To find out more: Contact Kristie Weiland, Tax Campaign Coordinator at Just Harvest at 412-431-8960 to learn more about work that is being done here in Allegheny County to bring unclaimed tax benefits back to hard working people and how you can help! National Community Tax Coalition - www.tax-coalition.org - Leads the national community-based movement in connecting working families to tax benefits. Their website includes a library of tools to help you run a free tax preparation site. The Brookings Institution - www.brookings.edu/metro/EITC/EITC-Homepage.aspx - Research and analysis of the EITC including interactive zip code-level data on EITC claims for states, counties, cities, and towns. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – www.cbpp.org/pubs/eitc.htm – Publishes a comprehensive toolkit to help you promote the EITC and Child Tax Credit and provides extensive research about tax credits.