Economic Justice

Amazon announced this morning it will offer a low-cost version of its Prime membership program to qualifying recipients of Medicaid. The program will bring the cost of Prime down from the usual $12.99 per month to about half that, at $5.99 per month, while still offering the full range of Prime perks, including free, two-day shipping on millions of products, Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Reading, Prime Now, Audible Channels, and more.

The new program is an expansion on Amazon’s discounted Prime service for customers on government assistance, launched in June 2017. For the same price of $5.99 per month, Amazon offers Prime memberships to any U.S. customer with a valid EBT card – the card that’s used to disburse funds for assistance programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program (WIC).

Now that same benefit is arriving for recipients of Medicaid, the public assistance program providing medical coverage to low-income Americans. To qualify for the discount, customers must have a valid EBT or Medicaid card, the retailer says.

While it seems like online shopping – and especially a Prime membership – should be a luxury for those who can afford the convenience, Amazon and other retailers are increasingly seeing it as something that should be broadly accessible to all.

For low-income customers, online stores can sometimes have the best prices, compared with local retailers, allowing them to save on everyday needs. In addition, driving to and from a store isn’t always easy, either – especially because some low-income shoppers don’t have regular (or any) access to a vehicle.

There is good news, though. Most people can keep more of their hard-earned money and file their taxes for free!

If your household brings in under $66,000 you can prepare and file your federal taxes online for free. Earn less than $54,000 and you can get in-person help through a voluntary income tax assistance (VITA) site or a tax counseling for the elderly (TCE) preparer.

Every tax preparer at a VITA or TCE site is certified by the IRS and trained to do federal, state and local taxes.  This results in rejection rates as low as two to ten percent which is much lower than the rate of paid tax preparer returns (a 2014 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that filings by paid preparers were riddled with errors) and doesn’t cost you hundreds of dollars, either.

Last year 101,000 Michigan residents utilized these free tax services. If you or someone you know is among the 70 percent of Americans who will receive a refund this year, why don’t you give a free tax preparer a try? It won’t cost you anything and, chances are, it’ll be as good (if not better) than paid service and will enable you to keep your money where it belongs—in your pocket.

What’s new for borrowers with severe disabilities and student debt?

The bipartisan agreement to raise the caps on discretionary spending in 2018 and 2019 reportedly calls for higher funding for the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) operating budget, which is starved for resources after years of cuts, to improve customer service. SSA’s budget shrank by 11 percent between 2010 and 2017, after adjusting for inflation — even as SSA’s workload grew as baby boomers reached their peak years for retirement and disability. When lawmakers write agency funding bills based on the agreement, they need to fulfill their commitment and provide SSA with a significant increase to undo the damage from those cuts.

One consequence of the cuts is that over 1 million people await a final decision on their application for Social Security Disability Insurance — after paying into Social Security their entire career — or their application for Supplemental Security Income disability benefits. They wait an average of nearly two years for decisions on their appeals, a record delay.

Through a series of design labs and learning sessions, we heard from community residents, policymakers, service providers, businesses owners, social entrepreneurs, researchers, advocates, faith leaders, and journalists. We also learned from each other. Despite the Partnership members’ differing backgrounds and perspectives, we found much we could agree on, including genuine optimism about our nation’s capacity to tap into the lost potential of so many and begin restoring the American dream.

Our Definition of Mobility

The Partnership’s collective ambition is that all people achieve a reasonable standard of living with the dignity that comes from having power over their lives and being engaged in and valued by their community. Our definition includes three core principles:

• Economic success
• Power and autonomy
• Being valued in community

Our Proposed Strategies

The Partnership developed a series of idea papers that coalesce around an architecture of five interlocking strategies, described below:

• Change the narrative.
• Create access to good jobs.
• Ensure zip code is not destiny.
• Provide support that empowers.
• Transform data use.

By answering questions and providing basic income information, you can use our EITC Assistant to:

• find out if you are eligible for EITC;
• determine if your child or children meet the tests for a qualifying child; and
• estimate the amount of your credit.

We have the EITC Assistant in English and Versión en Español. We also have versions for the current tax year and for prior years.

Make sure you use the right assistant. Income limits and credit amounts change from year to year.

Important Notes

• You need to complete the full assistant at one time. When you exit the assistant, all the information you entered is erased.
• You cannot use any income received for work performed while an inmate to claim EITC. This includes amounts for work performed while incarcerated, in a work release program, or while in a halfway house.
• If the IRS audited you and disallowed the EITC, you may have special filing requirements and limitations. See Consequences of Errors on Your EITC Returns.
• You can't claim EITC unless the Social Security number you, your spouse (if married filing a joint return) or a qualifying child is issued before the due date of the return including any valid extensions.*

Choose the Right EITC Assistant

https://goo.gl/z1XCJh

It’s your money, so make sure you get all the tax credits you deserve!

You could qualify for:

• Up to $2,100 from the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
• Up to $6,269 from the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and up to $376 from the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit.
• Up to $1,000 per child from the federal Child Tax Credit.
• As well as the Michigan Home Heating Credit and Michigan Property Tax Credit.

Whether or not you owe any income tax, if you are a Michigan taxpayer you can get FREE help in completing your income taxes by an IRS trained volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) or tax counseling for the elderly (TCE) preparer. Contact your local free tax organization today to find out how you may qualify for thousands of dollars in tax credits like the Federal and state Earned Income Tax Credit.

To locate a free tax site near you, dial 2-1-1 or check the free tax assistance page.

Different people need different resumes, in fact, every person needs different versions of his own resume to use for various purposes. However, what usually happens is that you work on a template you get from a friend, then produce a black and white unprofessional resume that fails to represent you, however impressive your profile actually is.

If you want your professional skills to be presented through a spectacular CV that perfectly fits for a particular job or industry, take help from these free online resume creation tools that I’m reviewing in this post. You’ll be amazed at the many features these tools can offer that help in creating just the right resume. Let’s take a look.

Read Also: 30 Free & Beautiful Resume Templates To Download

CV Maker

CV Maker is a multilingual tool for building a professional resume. What impressed me is, you can choose from a wide range of pre-designed templates per your profession. You do not need to format or arrange the layouts manually – all is already done for you.