New York City Council member Robert Jackson is kicking off the tax season—one street corner at a time.
Jackson, who represents parts of Morningside Heights and Harlem, declared a “kickoff to tax season” at 135th Street and Broadway on Friday afternoon, staging an informal press conference to emphasize the potential benefits of Earned Income Tax Credits for low-income constituents.
Joined by two Internal Revenue Service officials commemorating the IRS’ annual “National EITC Day,” Jackson distributed literature on the credit, which enables low-income Americans to earn a rebate on the wages that they’ve earned throughout the year, and discussed the potential windfalls available to working-class area residents.
“About one in four New Yorkers are eligible for EITC,” Jackson said, a Democrat in his ninth year on the Council. “Who are these people? These are typically the people spending the money in the local community stores. So I have to promote this in the community, because otherwise people might not know about it.” Jackson said that he chose this specific street corner to hold the impromptu conference because a large housing project adjoins the south side of 135th Street, and many Section 8 housing residents are eligible for the EITC.
Jackson, whose City Council district encompasses the Columbia campus, explained that he is now acting as something of a traveling pitchman for the EITC, describing the ins and outs of the credit at the community associations and Democratic club meetings. He said he is also promoting the EITC on his newsletter, which reaches 80,000 people.
“This is an extremely important process,” he said. “People need to know that they are entitled to it. Their elected representatives need to play a part in distributing the necessary information. I am going to be pushing this until the tax season is over.”
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