ACORN Report Documents Billions in Unclaimed EITC Dollars

ACORN Member Dorothy Davis, front left, speaks at a press conference in Washington, DC releasing ACORN's new report on the Earned Income Tax Credit “Increasing Incomes & Reducing the Refund Loan Rip-Off.”

On September 1, ACORN, with the support of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, released a new report documenting that as many as seven million low-income working households in the U.S. may be missing out on more than $12 billion in Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) refunds to which they are entitled. The report, titled “Increasing Incomes and Reducing the Rapid Refund Rip-Off,” also shows that tax preparers siphon off over $1 billion per year from low-income working families through the sale of unnecessary bank products, such as Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs). The report describes a successful three-city pilot project funded by the Marguerite Casey Foundation through which thousands of families in New Orleans, Miami and San Antonio were able to claim their full EITC benefits as a result of intensive door-to-door outreach by ACORN and ACORN-run free tax preparation sites. The three-city experiment was so successful that ACORN plans to expand the program to other cities this coming tax season. ACORN national president Maude Hurd explained that: “We need to commit ourselves to making sure that the lowest paid workers are getting the benefits they have earned and that tax preparers do not cheat them out of one dime of their money.” For more information, contact Jordan Ash at financialjustice@acorn.org or 651-644-5061.