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Note #7620 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Found money 
03128
March 5, 2003

Found money 

PC(USA) to help spread word about tax break for working poor

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - The Presbyterian Church (USA) is trying to get the word out
about a federal income-tax credit designed to help lift low-income workers
and families out of poverty.
	
Church officials say the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) - which is meant to
encourage the poor to work instead of relying on government relief - can
raise a family's standard of living. 
	
However, many eligible taxpayers don't claim the credit, which can be worth
thousands of dollars, because they don't know about it.
	
A new PC(USA) awareness campaign is spreading the word about the EITC through
Presbyterian congregations and outreach ministries.
	
The campaign is a partnership involving the PC(USA)'s Urban Ministry Office,
the Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT), and the
Volunteers and Community Partnerships program of the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS).
	
"There are persons who are sitting in our pews and involved (in) our ...
community ministries who are eligible for the EITC but don't know it exists,
or how to qualify, or how to claim it," said the Rev. Phil Tom, associate for
the Urban Ministry Office. 
	
The tax credit, which reduces the tax burden for working people and families,
may bring a refund from the IRS.
	
The National Tax Assistance for Working Families Campaign says almost five
million people, roughly half of them children, escape poverty each year
through the EITC program, the second-largest provider (after Medicaid) of
federal assistance to low-income people.
	
The EITC was worth as much as $4,140 this year to eligible households that
earned less than $34,178 last year, according to the Brookings Institution's
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. The amount of the credit depends on
income and family size.
	
The EITC delivered more than $30 billion to 18.4 million low-income families
in 2001 and has lifted more working families out of poverty than any other
federal program, the center said.
	
The Brookings Institution study found that many eligible families are not
filing for the EITC.	 
	
An information packet about the credit will be made available by early June
on the Internet Web sites of the Urban Ministry Office and the Presbyterian
Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA). 
	
PHEWA and the Urban Ministry Office are, part of the PC(USA)'s National
Ministries Division. PHEWA is composed of 10 networks that provide support,
training and resources to individuals, congregations and middle governing
bodies. PACT is a newly organized PHEWA network formed by the consolidation
of the Urban Network of Congregational Leaders (UNCL) and Community
Ministries and Neighborhood Organizations (COMANO).
	
"We believe that the EITC campaign will provide another invaluable resource
for all of our congregations to enhance their outreach ministries with their
members and communities," said the Rev. Nancy K. Troy, executive director of
PHEWA, which voted to endorse the campaign on Jan. 25.
	
The PC(USA) is one of a number of organizations and local governments that
will be trying to draw attention to the EITC, according to Troy, who is also
the denomination's associate for Social Welfare Ministries. 
	
For more information about the EITC, log onto the IRS Web site,
www.irs.gov/eitc, or that of the National Tax Assistance for Working Families
Campaign, www.eitc.info.

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