Each year nearly 100,000 eligible families in Chicago do not take advantage of the EITC, leaving over $230 million in unclaimed refunds. The City of Chicago is providing an additional $500,000 in funding on order to hire additional site leaders and expand hours and days they are available to provide critical free assistance to help Chicago’s working families who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to apply for their tax refunds.
The new $500,000 investment is from remaining funds from the $11.9 million the City collected last year’s income tax claw backs from nearly 73,000 scofflaws. It will be dispersed to the Center for Economic Progress and Ladder Up, two non-profit organizations that currently provide free tax preparation services to over 18,000 Chicagoans. The funds will allow each of the organizations to expand the hours and number of days at sites allowing 7,000 more families to have access to free tax prep services over the next two years. This investment by the City will lead to over $16 million in additional refunds for working families and stimulate over $26 million in local economic activity.
February 14,2013
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