Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/dpn/
and
The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
http://bbi.syr.edu
One–Stop Toolkit
Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E–Mail listserv
9 February 2007
Good morning everyone,
Below please find the web site and publication of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week archives, access: www.onestoptoolkit.org and click on the link to "Resources of the Week" on the right hand side of the home page.
To view an indexed list of the resources of the week by subject matter, visit the L.P.H.D.C. web site at http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/resources/wig/default.asp. It currently includes 20 categories, covering over 300 annotated references. Each category opens to a new window with each Resource of the Week which covered material in that area.
Have a good day and weekend!
Laura Farah
Program Associate
Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
P: 617–489–0086
F: 617–489–1374
[ E–mail Lgleneck@mail.law.uiowa.edu ]
[ E–mail LFarah8@aol.com ]
[ http://www.onestoptoolkit.org ]
[The full announcement is located under the section heading "Resources of Interest."]
There is a dire need to increase the knowledge and awareness of tax and financial services for working Americans and their families with disabilities to increase their economic independence and income preservation. Navigators can help to increase the knowledge of critical tax and financial services by providing information about the Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.). The E.I.T.C., enacted by Congress in 1975, is a federal tax credit available to assist working families and individuals and has several important benefits: it reduces the tax burden on workers, supplements wages, makes work more attractive than welfare, reduces income inequality and helps low–income families build assets. The E.I.T.C. is a refundable credit offered through the federal tax system and even if workers are not required to file or pay taxes due to low income, many can still file for taxes and get some sort of a refund. The amount of the credit that a taxpayer receives depends on their income and the number of qualifying children they have. Under Federal rules, the E.I.T.C. payments will not be used to determine eligibility for the following benefit programs: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (T.A.N.F.), Medicaid and S.S.I., Food Stamps, Low Income Housing, and S.S.I..
The following information on updates to the 2006 Red Book that apply for 2007 was provided by our liaison at the Social Security Administration (S.S.A.) to the Disability Program Navigator initiative. The S.S.A. Red Book is the publication that details S.S.A’s work incentive policies and programs. The updates are included below in their entirety and also can be viewed and downloaded by accessing the U.R.L. listed above.
We also increased the Medicaid While Working State Threshold Amounts for Disabled Individuals. We use yearly State threshold amounts to decide if earnings are high enough to replace S.S.I. and Medicaid benefits.
| STATE | THRESHOLD |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $22,789 |
| Alaska | $50,685 |
| Arizona | $27,401 |
| Arkansas | $25,371 |
| California | $32,920 |
| Colorado | $31,198 |
| Connecticut | $52,407 |
| Delaware | $32,282 |
| District of Columbia | $37,326 |
| Florida | $27,064 |
| Georgia | $25,049 |
| Hawaii | $28,263 |
| Idaho | $34,537 |
| Illinois | $31,011 |
| Indiana | $32,021 |
| Iowa | $27,805 |
| Kansas | $29,866 |
| Kentucky | $24,771 |
| Louisiana | $26,285 |
| Maine | $40,061 |
| Maryland | $33,914 |
| Massachusetts | $33,533 |
| Michigan | $25,326 |
| Minnesota | $44,009 |
| Mississippi | $23,484 |
| Missouri | $28,949 |
| Montana | $26,944 |
| Nebraska | $27,954 |
| Nevada | $26,886 |
| New Hampshire | $39,046 |
| New Jersey | $31,591 |
| New Mexico | $32,016 |
| New York | $41,771 |
| North Carolina | $29,410 |
| North Dakota | $32,973 |
| Ohio | $32,097 |
| Oklahoma | $23,432 |
| Oregon | $28,003 |
| Pennsylvania | $27,835 |
| Rhode Island | $34,312 |
| South Carolina | $26,326 |
| South Dakota | $30,487 |
| Tennessee | $22,174 |
| Texas | $27,775 |
| Utah | $26,524 |
| Vermont | $33,498 |
| Virginia | $27,577 |
| Washington | $26,530 |
| West Virginia | $25,437 |
| Wisconsin | $31,323 |
| Wyoming | $25,292 |
| N. Mariana Islands | $15,972 |
| STATE | THRESHOLD |
|---|---|
| California | $34,480 |
| Iowa | $28,333 |
| Massachusetts | $34,382 |
| Nevada | $29,509 |
| Oregon | $28,596 |
The Earned Income Tax Credit (E.I.T.C.), enacted by Congress in 1975, is a federal tax credit available to assist working families and individuals. The E.I.T.C. has several important benefits: it reduces the tax burden on workers (especially with respect to Social Security payroll tax), supplements wages, makes work more attractive than welfare, reduces income inequality and helps low–income families build assets.
The E.I.T.C. is a refundable credit offered through the federal tax system. The credit is available to low– and moderate–income workers regardless of their tax liability (meaning that even if they don’t have to file or pay taxes, many working poor families can still file for taxes and get some sort of an E.I.T.C. refund). The amount of the credit that a taxpayer receives depends on their income and the number of qualifying children they have. 18 states and the District of Columbia also offer an E.I.T.C., generally as a percentage of the federal credit. To receive the federal E.I.T.C., eligible working families and individuals must file a federal income tax return and must fill out and attach Schedule E.I.C.
Access the U.R.L. to read more about the E.I.T.C., which includes reference to what is available for the tax year 2006.
[The following is excerpted from the website.]
Special assistance is available for persons with disabilities. If you are unable to complete your return because of a physical disability, you may obtain assistance from an I.R.S. office, or Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA, http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=107626,00.html) sponsored by I.R.S.. For further information on available I.R.S. services, refer to Topic 101 (Volunteer tax assistance, toll free telephone, walk–in assistance, and outreach programs: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc101.html) or refer to Publication 910 (P.D.F.), Guide to Free Tax Services (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p910.pdf | Get free Adobe Reader).
Telephone assistance for the hearing impaired is available for individuals with T.T.Y. equipment. The toll–free number for this service is 1–800–829–4059. Hearing impaired individuals that do not have this equipment may be able to obtain access through the federal or state relay services.
Braille materials for the visually impaired are available at any of the 142 regional libraries in conjunction with the national library service for the blind and physically disabled. To locate your nearest library write to the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress at 1291 Taylor Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20542. Available materials are limited to Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p334/index.html), and Forms 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ (materials include instructions and tax tables).
For additional information on these subjects and other areas that may affect persons with disabilities, refer to Publication 907, Tax Highlights for Persons with Disabilities (http://www.irs.gov/publications/p907/index.html).
SOLUTIONS, the Hire Disability Solutions Newsletter, is designed to provide information that will increase understanding and awareness of disability related issues, facilitate the employment of people with disabilities, and provide new tools and tips from other members of the H.D.S. community.
Access the website to read the second edition, which includes the following articles, and to access a link to the first edition.
Interested in hiring a person with a disability? Want to find out if the building improvements you just made can qualify as a tax deduction or a tax credit? Would you like to take advantage of state tax incentives and grants for building your company and training your staff by hiring or retaining workers with disabilities? Do you want to know how to find out if an employee’s disability qualifies for an incentive? Want to find out how to make the hiring process payoff for you? Then this is the web site for you. It provides information on employment incentives for businesses including tax credits, business loans and grants, vocational rehabilitation services, assistive technology information and other financial advantages to encourage businesses to employ people with disabilities.
E–zine newsletter. EmploymentIncentives.com offers an e–zine that provides information about tax incentives updates, disability diversity initiatives, and assistive technology. If you would like to subscribe to this e–zine, please access: http://employmentincentives.com/subscribe.htm and provide your e–mail address. After clicking "Go" a new window will open).
EmploymentIncentives.com is funded by a grant from the Workplace Technology Foundation. The Workplace Technology Foundation is a non–profit organization established through funding by The Sierra Group, Inc. Together, these organizations are committed to reversing the rate of unemployment for people with disabilities.
Johnette Hartnett insists that the road to equality of economic rights in the 21st century must be paved with public policy that recognizes the intrinsic human value of citizens with disabilities and provides for their full inclusion in its formal economy. Dr. Hartnett provides the research and the initiative — the Real Economic Impact Tour — that helps us further down that path.
The National Disability Institute (N.D.I.) and N.C.B. Capital Impact along with its national partners, the I.R.S. Stakeholder Partnership, Education Communication Division (SPEC); the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Disability, and the Law, Health Policy and Disability Center, University of Iowa College of Law introduced the TAXfacts+ Campaign on April 15, 2004 in Washington, D.C. as a gateway strategy to asset building for working Americans with disabilities. The Campaign’s short–term goal is to increase the knowledge and awareness of tax and financial services for working Americans and their families through participation in community–based free tax preparation. Its long–term goal is to increase the economic independence and income preservation of working Americans and their families with disabilities through participation in asset building activities beyond free tax preparation that are tailored and effective in building real economic impact.
The road to equality of economic rights for people with different abilities regardless of race creed or socioeconomic background needs to be paved with more than good intentions or public policy that penalizes asset ownership. The road to equality of economic rights in the 21st century must be paved with public policy that recognizes the intrinsic human value of citizens with disabilities and provides for their full inclusion in its formal economy.
Educating Democracy is a response to the national movement focused on building savings and increasing wealth for low–income working Americans introduced in the 1990s.
This is a short synopsis of the full–length paper. Please go to http://www.ndi-inc.org/ to read the full report ( Get Microsoft Office C.D., free trial, S / H applies | Get free Word Viewer ) and for more information on this season’s Real Economic Impact Tour.
In response to President Bush’s State of the Union address, the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D., http://www.nod.org/) presents its own State of the Union, focusing on issues important to people with disabilities, such as employment and emergency preparedness.