title: Free tax assistance and the earned income tax credit: vital resources for social workers and low-income families.
abstract: As the United States' economy continues to experience challenges, more families at or near the poverty level fall prey to predatory financial practices. Their vulnerability to these operations is increased by a lack of knowledge of asset-building resources and alternative financial services. This article focuses on Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)--a free income tax preparation program, which is a vital resource available to low-income families. Unfortunately, VITA is largely underused and often unknown to economically strained families and to the social workers and other professionals to whom these families turn for assistance. This article concludes with policy and practice implications for social workers and other professionals engaged in providing services to financially vulnerable families.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. lim108@lsu.edu
authors.forename: Younghee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Tara V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: DeJohn
authors.forename: Drew
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D002608:Charities; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006801:Humans; D007183:Income Tax; D011203:Poverty; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000191:economics*; D012947:Social Work; D014481:United States; D014838:Volunteers; D035862:Vulnerable Populations