Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
If you?re not planning to file your tax return because your income level is below what?s required to file, think again, says Karen Owen, economic development coordinator for the Sweet Home Economic Development Group (SHEDG).
Owen, who recently attended a conference that dealt with the issue, said she thinks too many local people are missing out on the opportunity to cash in on the Earned Income Tax Credit.
The credit, which is available to many people who worked in 2005 but earned less than $37,263, provides a cash return to those who qualify. If you?ve earned between $12,000 and $16,000 and are raising two or more children, you can get as much as $4,536 back from the state of Oregon. Those who earn more may get less, but the return can be more than $1,000 even for those who earn $30,000 or more.
There?s also the Child Tax Credit, which grants a cash return of up to $1,000 per qualifying child under 17 who is being raised in your home.
Last year some 3,782 Linn County residents who qualified for the EITC failed to file for it, according to estimates from the IRS and census data.
?Only 57.8 percent of people who eligible to file for the earned income tax credit actually do so in Linn County,? Owen said. ?These people could use this money in ways that could really help them. A lot of people who qualify for this don?t actually file because they don?t have to ? they don?t make enough money to pay taxes.?
The average EITC return in Linn County in 2002 was $1,629, while more than $6.1 million went unclaimed last year. Nearly $18.5 million was paid to county residents in EITC funds.
Owen said the conference she attended in Pendleton Jan. 11-13, called the RuFES Institute, focused on ways to help the low-income working poor through a ?earn it, grow it, keep it? approach to family income.
?Our focus was how do we get low-income workers to earn more money and keep it,? she said. Owen attended the conference along with education officials and business development directors from around the county.
She said that other discussions at the event focused on issues such as helping the poor in the Sweet Home area get to jobs in Lebanon and Albany.
Owen said that an informational campaign, including letters and flyers, will target those who are bypassing the opportunity to cash in on the tax credits.
?This one is ripe fruit hanging on the tree,? she said of the EITC.