Friday marks Federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day, helping to raise community awareness about the EITC tax credit for low-income working families and individuals. As explained by City Commissioner Larry Conder, the EITC program is hugely beneficial for hardworking Owensboro residents.
Conder said he spent years of his life relying on the EITC after graduating from Daviess County High School as a 17-year-old father of one.
“I had my cap and gown on — in one hand, I was holding my diploma and, in the other hand, I was holding my newborn son,” Conder said. “The only way we could ever fix a car or buy a dishwasher was through the earned income tax credit.”
Conder worked full-time and attended college after high school, and the EITC was the only way his family could do things outside of their daily routine of working to make ends meet. EITC, which was first established in the 1970s, was a survival blanket for his family for six to seven years straight, he said.
These life experiences have prompted Conder’s support of an annual program run locally by the Green River Asset Building Coalition, where around 100 volunteers help moderate-to-low income residents in the greater Owensboro region by providing free income tax preparation.
Keith Sanders, executive director of the Hager Educational Foundation, said more than 9,000 Daviess County residents earned EITC last year totaling $20 million. The average EITC recipient in Daviess County gets a $2,000 refund and makes a median income of $20,000 a year.
“That’s the most money many of these families have at one time,” Sanders said. “EITC is viewed in many quarters as America’s main anti-poverty service. This piece of legislation has historically gotten strong bipartisan support because it rewards work and effort.”
The free income tax service program took off around 15 years ago as an informal, collaborative effort of public and private nonprofit agencies, local governments and representatives of the business community. Sanders said the annual program saves each person around $250-$300.
Last year, IRS-trained volunteers assisted with 5,600 tax returns from across the region. Half of those came from Owensboro, Sanders said.
The program’s mission also focuses on helping people become self-sufficient after tax season. Conder and Sanders said volunteers assist their clients with solutions for saving money, opening bank accounts and budgeting.
EITC is a federal-based program, but around 30 states offer it as well. Those who qualify federally also receive a small percentage of that amount from the state.
Kentucky does not offer the EITC incentive, Conder said, though word on the streets is that state representatives have begun discussing the possibility of implementing a state-based EITC. Of course, that option would come with a lot of budget-dissection and major money-shuffling.
“The Revenue Cabinet would have to look at their budget, and they’d have to vet that,” Conder said. “If they’re going to put something in place, where are they going to take [the needed funding] from?”
Without a clear-cut plan from the state, Conder began evaluating the percentage of those in Owensboro who fall below the poverty line, and he came up with a different question: What if Owensboro’s local government was able to assist those who qualified for EITC?
“What if there was a way to have a local earned income tax earned without impacting the general fund?” he asked. “Could we use that eligibility for federal EITC for households who bring in tax returns? Could they be eligible for something on a local level?”
Conder said only a couple cities in the US provide local EITC at the same level as the state, but that he’d love to find an additional way to help those in Owensboro living on low-to-moderate incomes.
“What if?” he asked. “What if we began to have this conversation on a local level? What could we do for those in impoverished households, and how?”
Sanders praised Conder for his efforts in advocating the free tax services offered by the Hager Foundation and the GRABC over the years.
“Larry Conder knows personally the importance of the EITC, and he’s been one of our strongest advocates we’ve had, and a best friend to the Green River Asset Building Coalition,” he said.
Those needing more information on the Green River Asset Building Coalition’s Free Income Tax Preparation services can pick up a brochure at 1501 Frederica St., Room 14E. The program starts Thursday and runs from 1-7 p.m.
