Cultivating public officials

July 2007

Newark Now demonstrates the value of cultivating public officials in order to strengthen the EITC. Not only does it have the city mayor and the county chief executive onboard, but it also engages Senate staff at its tax season kickoff.

Newark Now didn’t intend to get into the tax business.  When it formed in 2003, Newark Now sought to engage the local New Jersey community in activities to stimulate positive neighborhoods. But when its President found out how many low-income residents weren’t receiving the EITC, it jumped in to running tax sites—in February!

Needless to say, its 2004 tax season was not a great success. But next year its numbers increased to 88 returns, jumped to 400 in 2006, and surged to 1,100 in 2007.

The Mayor gets it
It may have helped that the President of Newark Now, Cory Booker, was elected Mayor of Newark in 2006 and became the first Newark mayor to embrace the VITA program and its EITC efforts. Mayor Booker provided two sites for tax preparation: one in City Hall and one at the One Stop employment resource center.

Stefan Pryor, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Mayor Cory Booker, Anthony Santiago

Brooker also spoke at press conferences for Newark Now, Newark Asset Building Coalition (of which Newark Now is a member), and another VITA site. In fact, when you open the City of Newark website, the first thing you see is a video of the Mayor promoting the EITC.

The City also helped with Newark Now’s VITA efforts by providing computers and supplies, and promoting their service to the public.

The county gets it, too
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo also supports Newark Now, a relationship brokered through the Nicholson Foundation. In addition to providing two tax site locations in their Citizen Services buildings this year, Essex County inserted EITC mailers into the paycheck envelopes of their several thousand employees.

The County will also send mailers to people in their database who are working, receive partial benefit, or who have a known work history, but who have not filed income tax returns. The underlying assumption is that if someone recently began receiving public benefits, a recent work history may mean they are eligible for the EITC, even though they are not required to file a tax return. This provides Newark Now a viable approach to increasing the EITC take-up rate in the Newark-Essex County area. These mailers will explain why many cash income recipients and part-time workers who usually do not file income tax returns could be eligible for EITC refunds.

Federal advocacy for the EITC
Anthony Santiago, Vice President of Asset Building for Newark Now, says he has been more successful in drawing support for free tax preparation at the local municipal and county level than with federal or state officials. Even so, staffers represented both U.S. senators at Newark Now’s tax season kickoff press conference.

During the NCTC campaign for federal funding for free tax preparation earlier this year, Santiago met with staffers of both senators and presented the NCTC’s position papers for the appropriation. Anthony has cultivated relationships with their offices during his years working in Newark, keeping them informed of upcoming events.

Local officials like the EITC
Santiago finds the EITC an easy sell for local officials. Tax refunds deliver “incredible value to their constituents, and any elected official is glad to put their name to it. It saves local people money in filing fees, brings in substantial dollars, and has direct economic impacts on the neighborhood,” he says.

Several times, Santiago has opened temporary VITA sites in satellite offices under the auspices of a local councilperson. While it is marketed as a satellite of the councilperson, they put the site in a community resource room, or some organization the councilperson has a relationship with.

EITC outreach at places of worship
Santiago also recommends places of worship as free tax preparation sites. The religious assembly does the marketing,  you set up a temporary tax site for a day, and you can expect to complete up to 30 returns. Extending this model, he has developed a PowerPoint presentation explaining the EITC. He will meet with the religious leader in the off-season, introduce the idea of the presentation, then present it when the pastor gathers interested assembly members.

Self-employed taxpayers gain from filing tax returns
In Santiago’s experience, many self-employed people with low incomes do not file tax returns. He informs them that babysitting, bartending, and hair-braiding income count as earned income for the EITC. Furthermore, by not reporting money paid “under the table”, they may be putting themselves at a disadvantage rather than beating the government. He tells such clients that they are not prohibited from filing a tax return for these cash payments, but in fact, could be eligible for a substantial refund if they file a tax return and bring the money “above the table.” Santiago would like funding to market the EITC to these self-employed people, who may be charged $100 extra by a commercial tax preparer to file a Schedule C. In 2007, Newark Now used a preparer use field in TaxWise to record the amounts new clients told them they spent last year on commercial tax preparation.

Keep in touch in the off-season
Anther off-season activity Santiago is about to undertake is a mass mailing to taxpayer clients advising them of a forthcoming survey. This mailing helps him maintain contact with clients and obtain forwarding information for clients who have moved. 

The post-season survey to clients asks questions such as:

• Were you comfortable with the preparers?
• Were you dealt with in a timely manner at the site?
• Was the site convenient for you?
• What marketing attracted you?

Santiago believes that if every client is satisfied, they become ambassadors, and have the potential to increase your base by bringing in another 2 clients. Some clients have volunteered to be EITC ambassadors, and these volunteers receive flyers to distribute through their social networks.

Ruth Bynum, former client and now ambassador, being interviewed by TV network UPN 9

The experience of Newark Now shows the power of ongoing marketing and active networking in ensuring that more and more taxpayers are able to take advantage of the EITC, and that public officials continue to value and support it.

 

Story by Don Wedd