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There Could Be More Income Tax Return Cash on the Table for You

Published

5 years ago

April 2, 2020

Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

For people who have not yet filed their tax returns, the United States Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced March 21 that they are moving the 2019 income tax filing due date from April 15 to July 15 this year, a three-month extension.

After the IRS’s announcement, the state of California postponed its tax deadlines until July 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That update superseded the California Franchise Tax Board’s (FTB) previous announcement that extended the period for filing and payment of taxes until June 15, 2020.

With the approval of the federal government’s $2 trillion stimulus package, designed to ease the financial impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic, taxpayers can take full advantage of several breaks federal and state agencies are offering.

Two tax credits specifically, one federal and the other in California, are aimed at giving families and businesses a lifeline.

For starters, eligibility for the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) has been expanded. People who earned less than $30,000 in 2019 — including through self-employment — may qualify, and those who also have a child under age six may be eligible to claim the Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC).

California’s YCTC was introduced in 2019. Upon qualifications for CalEITC and having a child under the age of six as of the end of the tax year, taxpayers could qualify for up to $1,000 through this particular tax credit.

Between CalEITC and YCTC, FTB anticipates returning $1 billion to taxpayers this year.

Taxpayers earning less than $55,952 may also qualify for the federal EITC. Through a combination of CalEITC, YCTC, and the federal EITC, a family can receive up to $8,053.

You can submit retroactive claims for this credit for up to the last four years. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides free tax help for those uncomfortable with submitting tax filings and earn less than $54,000 a year.

Responding to the economic challenges of the Coronavirus crisis, the federal government passed legislation that will provide up to a $1,200 payment for single individuals, $2,400 for married couples and various tax credits to businesses.

The legislation authorizes the IRS to issue to individuals with incomes of up to $75,000 a one-time $1,200 payment, phasing out at a rate of 5% for every $100 in income above $75,000.

The most important key to this tax credit for families and businesses is that emphasis is put on filing the 2018 tax returns, Horton said. They must be filed and the parties filing do not have to worry about previous hardships that prevented them from doing it.

Individuals with disabilities, the elderly and limited English speaking abilities need help filling out tax returns qualify. All income-eligible Californians who need help filing a Personal Income Tax (PIT) return can find it through the VITA program at sites statewide until July 15. All VITA volunteers are IRS-certified and can be trusted not to charge money for their services.

This tax season, the FTB expects to process 20 million PIT returns, and the IRS expects to process more than 150 million PIT returns.

Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

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Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

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Fighting to Keep Blackness

BlackPressUSA NEWSWIRE — Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C.

Published

1 week ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

By April Ryan

As this nation observes the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, the words of President Trump reverberate. “This country will be WOKE no longer”, an emboldened Trump offered during his speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. Since then, Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell posted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter this morning that “Elon Musk and his DOGE bros have ordered GSA to sell off the site of the historic Freedom Riders Museum in Montgomery.” Her post of little words went on to say, “This is outrageous and we will not let it stand! I am demanding an immediate reversal. Our civil rights history is not for sale!” DOGE trying to sell Freedom Rider Museum

Also, in the news today, the Associated Press is reporting they have a file of names and descriptions of more than 26,000 military images flagged for removal because of connections to women, minorities, culture, or DEI. In more attempts to downplay Blackness, a word that is interchanged with woke, Trump supporters have introduced another bill to take down the bright yellow letters of Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., in exchange for the name Liberty Plaza. D.C. Mayor Morial Bowser is allowing the name change to keep millions of federal dollars flowing there. Black Lives Matter Plaza was named in 2020 after a tense exchange between President Trump and George Floyd protesters in front of the White House. There are more reports about cuts to equity initiatives that impact HBCU students. Programs that recruited top HBCU students into the military and the pipeline for Department of Defense contracts have been canceled.

Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing back against this second-term Trump administration’s anti-DEI and Anti-woke message. In the wake of the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, several Congressional Black Caucus leaders are reintroducing the Voting Rights Act. South Carolina Democratic Congressman James Clyburn and Alabama Congresswoman Terry Sewell are sponsoring H.R. 14, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Six decades ago, Lewis was hit with a billy club by police as he marched for the right to vote for African Americans. The right for Black people to vote became law with the 1965 Voting Rights Act that has since been gutted, leaving the nation to vote without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Reflecting on the late Congressman Lewis, March 1, 2020, a few months before his death, Lewis said, “We need more than ever in these times many more someones to make good trouble- to make their own dent in the wall of injustice.”

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Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 5 – 11, 2025

Published

1 week ago

March 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Rep. Al Green is Censured by The U.S. House After Protesting Trump on Medicaid

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question.

Published

1 week ago

March 6, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

In one of the quickest punishments of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in the modern era, Congressman Al Green (D-TX) was censured by a 224-198 vote today in the House. His censure featured no hearing at the House Ethics Committee and his punishment was put on the floor for a vote by the Republican controlled House less than 72 hours after the infraction in question. Of the last three censures of members of the U.S. House, two have been members of the Congressional Black Caucus under GOP control. In 2023, Rep. Jamal Bowman was censured.

On the night of March 4, as President Trump delivered a Joint Address to Congress, Rep. Green interrupted him twice. Rep. Green shouted, “You don’t have a mandate to cut Medicare, and you need to raise the cap on social security,” to President Trump. In another rare event, Rep. Green was escorted off the House floor by security shortly after yelling at the President by order of GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. Over the last four years, members of Congress have yelled at President Biden during the State of the Union. Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor-Greene was joined by Republican Rep. Lauren Bobert (R-CO) in 2022 in yelling at President Biden. In 2023, Rep. Greene, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) yelled at Biden, interrupting his speech. In 2024, wearing a red MAGA hat, a violation of the rules of the U.S. House, Greene interrupted Biden again. She was never censured for her behavior. Rep. Green voted “present” on his censure and was joined by freshman Democrat Congressman Shomari Figures of Alabama who also voted “present”.

All other members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted against censuring Green. Republicans hold a four-seat advantage in the U.S. House after the death of Texas Democrat and former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner yesterday. Ten Democrats voted along with Republicans to censure Rep. Green, including Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, who is in the leadership as the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “I respect them but, I would do it again,” and “it is a matter of conscience,” Rep. Green told Black Press USA’s April Ryan in an exclusive interview on March 5. After the vote, a group of Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” in the well at the front of the House chamber. Several Republican members attempted to shout down the singing. House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the House out of session and into a recess. During the brief recess members moved back to their seats and out of the well of the House. Shortly after the vote to censor Rep. Green, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles of Tennessee quickly filed legislation to punish members who participated in the singing of “We Shall Overcome.” Earlier this year, Rep. Ogles filed legislation to allow President Donald Trump to serve a third term, which is currently unconstitutional. As the debate started, the stock market dove down over one-point hours from close. The jobs report will be made public tomorrow.