Tax Fair News Conference Includes Constituents and Staff Members Being Tested- 2/7/2007
Norton Tax Fair News Conference Includes Constituents and Staff Members Being Tested for
HIV Continuing Year Long Campaign to Tackle D.C. Epidemic
February 7, 2007
Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, announced that she will offer HIV/AIDS testing, followed by confidential results, to constituents attending her annual Tax Preparation and Information Fair, this Saturday, February 10, 2007 from 10 AM to 1 PM at the Washington Convention Center. Norton staff members will be tested on a voluntary basis during her press conference to kick off the fair at 11:00 AM on Saturday. Norton has been tested recently (See https://www.norton.house.gov/). "I hold the tax fair each year as a free service to the only American citizens who pay taxes without representation," Norton said. "But this year, I want to make the point during D.C.'s HIV epidemic that testing for everyone is as much an obligation and as normal as paying taxes." Norton is using the fair and other public events as she continues the year-long series she launched in November to jump-start the city's efforts to prevent this preventable disease, help quell the spread of the virus and assist people in getting help. The Norton series began with a clergy town meeting on November 30, 2006, and after the tax fair, will continue throughout the year with town meetings that focus on the disease's impact on the city's men, women, and teens, ending with an All-City HIV/AIDS Town Meeting to Eliminate the Epidemic. Norton has particularly targeted the Black community for awareness because the District has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the United States and the majority of new cases today are African Americans. Norton expressed her appreciation to the D.C. Department of Health that will facilitate the screenings by health professionals at the tax fair.
Saturday's news conference also will highlight the new and little known one-time tax refund available to all long distance telephone customers. The refund covers the three percent excise tax paid on long distance and bundled phone services billed between February 28, 2003 and August 1, 2006. A federal court decision authorized the refund. Individuals and organizations who don't normally file returns, including low-income people, senior citizens, churches and small charities, also are eligible.
The annual Norton Tax Fair, now in its 7th year, gives residents an alternative to using exorbitantly high interest Rapid Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs), which are particularly attractive to low and moderate income families who want early access to their IRS refunds. Typical D.C. taxpayers, who file a variety of common 1040 forms, can have their federal and D.C. tax forms filed electronically by more than 90 tax professionals from the IRS, D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, and volunteer agencies, on a first come first served basis. Residents also are urged to file for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a refundable federal tax credit for low to moderate income working families and individuals, Norton's $5,000 federal Homebuyer Tax Credit and many other tax credits and benefits.
Norton, who received a HIV/AIDS test in September along with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Capitol Hill, plans to stress the importance of universal testing by making screenings available at her events and personal appearances. She applauded the District for becoming the first jurisdiction in the United States to offer universal testing, even before the Centers for Disease Control recommended the same for the nation.