"That's $82 million that belongs in Utah and doesn't have to come out of state coffers," Utah Issues executive director Bill Crim told a legislative interim committee Wednesday. "Look at this as an economic development challenge as well as a social challenge."
Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, raised the issue of Earned Income tax credits with the Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development interim committee. She learned at the National Conference of State Legislatures that low-income Utahns were entitled to $82 million in federal-tax credits that they did not apply for in 2002.
What can be done to help more Utahns know this assistance is available, she wondered?
Diana Waddell, an Internal Revenue Service manager from Las Vegas, said her agency has worked over the past couple of years to establish three partnerships with Utah advocacy groups and state agencies - one each in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo - to make information available to low-income residents.
Working with the Community Action Program, United Way, Utah Issues, schools and financial institutions such as Zions Bank and American Express, the IRS has had some success advertising its free tax-preparation assistance and the availability of tax credits.
But the key, said Crim, is to establish a consistent message that can be delivered often over a number of years, similar to efforts to combat smoking or promote use of seat belts.
And the message that should be delivered, he added, does not end with the dissemination of information about tax credits being available.
The bigger issue in Crim's mind is convincing people that money saved through the credits can and should be plowed back into "asset building," whether that be establishing savings accounts, retiring credit-card debt or coming up with a down payment on a home.
He asked legislators to take the lead in "helping us identify ways to have residents change their behavior of overspending and high credit-card debt" and suggested the state could help finance a television ad campaign to support his group's "Utah Saves" campaign.
mikeg@sltrib.com
