Shortly after dawn, they moved out across the city, hundreds of them, clambering onto chartered buses, armed only with sharpened pencils and boxes of donuts.
If this were a TV series, it might be called “The Young Accountants.”
“Where’s the white-out?” one shouted Saturday, calling for help after the group set up camp in the glass-walled lobby of Clemente High School at 1147 N. Western Ave. Others called for more forms.
All volunteers, the more than 1,000 people trained in the arcane ways of the federal and state tax codes are taking part in a free service called the “Tax Assistance Program–It Adds Up.” The program has eight Chicago sites to help working individuals and families earning less than $30,000 a year.
Using a provision called the Earned Income Tax Credit, such families, especially those with children, can get big refunds from the federal government, some up to $4,000. But it takes forms, and they must be filled out.
“I knew there were tax credits out there,” said investment banker Robert Burke, 30, now a partner in River Road Partners, a private merchant bank at 333 N. Michigan Ave. He came up with the “Adds Up” idea in 1994 while working for Arthur Andersen & Co., his first job after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
Matching low-income families with refund checks took considerable energy and organization.
“I stopped by everyone’s desk, usually right about quitting time, and asked for a few seconds to explain the program. I focused on two floors a night. I didn’t want anyone saying they didn’t know how to volunteer,” Burke said about the first year in which the project, with help from Arthur Andersen, helped 120 people to get back $150,000.
This year, using volunteers from Loop accounting, law and banking firms, the project expects to help 4,000 families to get $5 million back, said Antonio Schiappa, another project leader.
On six more Saturdays before tax day April 16, volunteers will gather in the Arthur Andersen lobby at 33 W. Monroe St. and don white T-shirts with the motto: “You Earn Your Keep/Now Keep Your Earnings.”
Then, with a roar, the row of buses will take off, as they did Saturday, for sites from Juarez High School on the Southwest Side to the McCormick Boys and Girls Club in Uptown.
“When you’re done, clip your returns, raise your hand, holler or something. Julie will make all the copies and put them in envelopes for your clients. Got it?” shouted Sharon Kampner, the Clemente site leader, readying her troops for a day there that would see 115 returns completed, copied and readied for mailing. Then, for the next four hours, it was “Go, pencils!”
“Taxes are such a difficult issue for many people,” Burke said. “It’s not a normal skill set that most Americans have. But it is something everyone has to do.”
Unfortunately, many don’t. Overwhelmed by forms, or fearing that they may owe more money, many simply fail to file returns.
In many cases, the federal tax credits remain unclaimed.
Though the city offers tax-preparation programs for those who need help, this program focuses on working-class families with limited incomes. Much of its funding comes from a city program, Mayor Daley’s Earned Income Tax Credit Outreach Initiative.
The program has a budget this year of $225,000, which pays for one staff member, office space, stamps and other supplies.
Burke and the volunteers in his program have incorporated client-flow ideas developed by retailers and fast-food entrepreneurs to make the process run smoothly. Going in, greeters meet all who show up, helping them to get their papers in order. Going out, copy clerks help to prepare mailing envelopes and make copies.
“It’s nice to see a smile on a person’s face,” volunteer Ed Kelly said Saturday. A business executive who heard about the program through the alumni newsletter of the Harvard Business School, Kelly was filling out tax forms for Jeannette Gonzalez, who described the service as “very useful.” Nearby, Kelly’s wife, Julie, was working the copier.
“I did good,” said Velma Coppage, whose forms were completed by Merle Lype, an accountant for a real estate company in Skokie.
In his job, Lype said, “I don’t see many people face to face. I mostly work on a computer.”
Getting out and mingling seems to be, for the financial set, part of the appeal.
“What draws our volunteers is that they get to use their actual skills and acumen to really help people. It’s not like spending a weekend day painting a building,” Burke said.
To volunteer, call 312-822-0595 or go to the Web site: www.taxassistance.com.
Spending a Saturday or two doing taxes also is a good way to meet people with similar interests. Last weekend, more than one set of volunteers looked as if, sometime in the future, they might be sharing deductions and filing a joint return.
