Taxpayer Opportunity Network Newsletter: September 2023
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Dear John,
Earlier this month, 240 community tax preparation and VITA practitioners, advocates, and friends convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for VITACon ’23. Over the course of our time together in the City of Bridges, I heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees. Folks shared that they were inspired by the energy in the room, enjoyed meeting new colleagues and friends, and of course, raved about how applicable the content was for their work in their communities. Personally, I had a permanent smile on my face from seeing relationships and innovations develop right there in the room.
There are so many people to thank for making VITACon ’23 possible, including the VITACon Planning Team, the Taxpayer Opportunity Network (TON) Steering Committee, conference presenters and facilitators, and our generous sponsors. Over the next few months, we’ll share more information, content and learnings from VITACon with you all, but today we’ll start with sharing the session presentations, which you can find here and below.
With VITACon ‘23 behind us, I hope to see you at Prosperity Summit 2024 in Washington, DC, where there will be more VITA and tax equity sessions and workshops!
Sincerely,
Dara Duratinsky
Director of Network Building
Check out Content and Presentations from VITACon ’23!
What makes VITACon so unique? It’s planned in partnership with you, our TON members! The VITACon planning Committee, TON Steering Committee, and VITACon speakers and facilitators dedicated several weeks and months to co-creating VITACon with us in order to make sure the content was relevant and applicable to community tax prep and VITA sites across the country. VITACon ’23 sessions had a wide range of speakers and facilitators, panels and workshops and even an Ask Me Anything session. We want to share as much of the content as possible with you, which is why VITACon ’23 presentations can now be found on the VITACon webpage.
Shaping the Future: Innovations to Improve Access & Build a More Equitable Tax System
Over the past year, the Tax Equity Funders Network and Prosperity Now have been working together to answer the question “What if?” What if big changes to systems could be made to enable more low- and moderate-income families to get their taxes filed with little hassle and at little or no cost? Thus, we spoke with field and funder partners to identify a range of innovative, future-focused ideas that could be explored. The six innovations highlighted in this report include:
Innovations to Expand Capacity at Tax Time, Robin McKinney, CASH Campaign of Maryland
Regulation of Return Preparers- A Personal History, Nina E. Olson, Center for Taxpayer Rights
Smart Reforms: How Human-Centered Data Can Transform the Tax Time Moment, Leigh Phillips and Radha Seshagiri, SaverLife
Scaling Access to Free Tax Assistance Through FSA VITA, Bryndan Stueve, United Way Worldwide
Waiving Income Reporting to Improve Access to the Tax System, Gabriel Zucker, Code for America
Large Language Models Will Democratize Tax Advice and Preparation, Samuel Hammond, Foundation for American Innovation
Resources and Publications
Debt Ceiling Deal Undermines an Equitable Tax System | Prosperity Now
In June, Prosperity Now published this blog analyzing the debt ceiling deal, which in addition to ending the pause in student loan payments and halting forgiveness, included massive claw backs to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding.
States at Work: Shining Examples of Progressive Legislation in Key Economic Policy in 2023 | Prosperity Now
This blog highlights progressive policies introduced and passed across the country in 2023, including 18 states with notable tax policy changes, including state EITCs, tax exemptions, state tax relief and child tax credits.
Redefining Freedom: How Claiming the EITC Brings US Closer to Economic Liberation | TCFW
Tax Credits for Working Families (TCFW) shares how leveraging existing anti-poverty solutions like the EITC can allow LMI families to thrive.
How to help America’s kids: Give their parents cash | Vox
As part of President Biden’s pandemic relief plan, the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) lifted nearly 3 million children out of poverty. When that program ended, state governments have pushed forward their own versions, with 11 states having passed or expanded their own CTCs as of July of this year.
More Data Needed to Help Reduce Benefit Participation Gaps | Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity
Spotlight on Poverty highlights a new paper from the NYU Law Tax Law Center that calls on greater data collection transparency from the IRS to help get a better sense of the EITC and CTC participation gap.
Events and Opportunities
Building High Impact Nonprofits of Color: An Open Training Series | Prosperity Now |Virtual Learning Opportunity (Past session recordings can be found in the link above)
Day 1: Effective Communications Strategies Rooted in Equity
Day 2: Intentional Board Development and Management
Day 3: How to Cultivate and Grow Fundraising Strategies
Day 4: How to Map out a Strategic Vision
Upcoming VITA and Tax-Aide Program Staff and Volunteer Webinars from the CFPB Tax Time Initiative:
Establishing Financial Guide Volunteer Role at VITA Sites – Webinar, Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 1:00-2:00 pm ET.
Peer Discussion on the Financial Guide Role, Wednesday, October 4, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET.
Resources for Free Tax Assistance Providers – Webinar, Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET.
Expert Panel on Resources for Free Tax Assistance Providers, Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET.
