skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, February 17, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

At Least 11 Dead After Severe Flooding Sweeps The South; Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power; Abandoned Mine Land program frozen as Appalachia faces severe flooding; Solar power gives MN resort new blood, new life.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Top Trump officials set to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia over the Ukraine war. The GOP budget resolution is at risk as moderates weigh out consequences. New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he's "going nowhere."

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Expanded tax credits, free tax service help MA families get ahead

play audio
Play

Monday, February 3, 2025   

Community action agencies in Massachusetts called the state's expanded tax credits "powerful antipoverty tools" and they are offering free tax prep services to help families get ahead.

The state's Earned Income Tax Credit grew to 40% of the federal rate last year, while the Child and Family Tax Credit is now $440.

Clare Higgins, executive director of Community Action Pioneer Valley, said it means more money in working peoples' pockets, helping them pay for child care, transportation, diapers and rent.

"It's just amazing when somebody realizes that this refund really can change their circumstances," Higgins observed.

Higgins pointed out the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program returned more than $1 million last year to Hampshire and Franklin counties alone. Tax prep volunteers noted up to 20% of families who qualify for refunds do not access them, making their work even more important.

Expanded tax credits helped cut childhood poverty in half during the pandemic. Studies show direct cash payments can improve the health of mothers and infants, as well as educational outcomes for children.

Joe Diamond, executive director of the Massachusetts Association for Community Action, a coalition of community action agencies which helps run half of the 80 tax assistance sites statewide, said benefits are well understood by the loyal volunteer accountants, who make the program work.

"They are folks who are living in the community," Diamond emphasized. "They are accounting students and others, who see how important and how powerful helping people do their taxes can be and how powerful the resources can be."

Diamond said volunteers and agency staff not only help people get their tax refunds but gain financial empowerment and budgeting skills. He added it takes federal and state funding to keep the network stable, from which the local communities benefit.

Disclosure: The Massachusetts Association for Community Action contributes to our fund for reporting on Housing/Homelessness, Hunger/Food/Nutrition, Poverty Issues, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Data from Penn Medicine finds as of January 2024, more than 30,000 people in the U.S. have received CAR T-cell therapy since it was approved for use in 2017. (Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Some New York doctors are working on new ways to treat advanced cancers. Chimeric Antigen Receptor, or CAR, T-cell therapy treats certain blood …


Health and Wellness

play sound

The incidence of drug overdose is decreasing in Indiana and one reason could be the efforts of an organization offering free training to anyone willin…

Social Issues

play sound

By Kim Kobersmith for The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Brett Peveto for South Carolina News Service for the Daily Yonder-Public News Service Coll…


More than 48% of Wyoming is public land, owned and managed by the federal government on behalf of U.S. residents. Several state bills this session were written to try to decrease the percentage. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Wyoming is one of several Western states where some lawmakers arguing states should have more control of the federally managed public lands within the…

Environment

play sound

By S.E. Smith for Yes! Magazine.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Yes! Magazine-Public News Service …

A home burns in a Los Angeles neighborhood during recent wind-driven wildfires spreading throughout several Southern California communities. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

By Amy McDermott for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for for California News Service reporting…

Social Issues

play sound

February is Library Lovers Month - and libraries across the Commonwealth are encouraging their long-time and new patrons to celebrate. Lisa Varga…

Social Issues

play sound

According to the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, the Trump administration has taken 130 actions on immigration so far this term. Groups in …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021