{"id":1548,"date":"2013-02-22T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T15:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/tax-season-tis-the-season-of-abuse-exploitation-and-neglect-in-the-black-community.html"},"modified":"2013-02-22T15:38:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T15:38:00","slug":"tax-season-tis-the-season-of-abuse-exploitation-and-neglect-in-the-black-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/02\/tax-season-tis-the-season-of-abuse-exploitation-and-neglect-in-the-black-community.html","title":{"rendered":"Tax Season. Tis\u2019 The Season of Abuse, Exploitation and Neglect in the Black Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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by Kamilah Hall Sharp<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
R3 Contributor<\/span><\/div>\n

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Typically people think of a new year as a time of new beginnings, new opportunities and a time for trying out new resolutions.\u00a0 The one thing I have come to realize is the start of a new year is the beginning of tax season.\u00a0 While some are dreading gathering documents, preparing their tax returns and possibly having to write a check there are others who have a completely different view of this time of year.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Think about it, how many tax commercials have you heard in the last week?\u00a0 You hear these commercials on radio stations that are targeted toward black listeners.<\/span><\/div>\n
Have you heard commercials where you can get an instant refund up to $9,999?\u00a0 Have you seen a commercial where you can bring your W-2 to this car dealership and they will get you in a new car and get your taxes filed for you?\u00a0 I am sure you have seen an endless amount of new tax preparation offices with ridiculous names that usually seem to have the word money in them pop up all over the place.\u00a0 I have even seen one in a gas station.\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 But these new \u201cbusinesses\u201d do not appear everywhere, only in the black or other minority communities.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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As I drove past a tax preparation office in a black neighborhood it was extremely crowded.\u00a0 The office was full of black customers waiting to have their taxes filed.\u00a0 It is tax season.\u00a0 This is when many low-income black people will receive a relatively large tax refund.\u00a0 Since this seems to be common knowledge it appears that this is the best time to take advantage of them and make some easy money.\u00a0 There are promises of large instant refunds made and many times kept.\u00a0 Thus, many in our community do not know they are being abused and exploited in great numbers.<\/span><\/div>\n
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How many in our community do not know that this large \u201cinstant refund\u201d is actually a loan with fees attached that will reduce the amount they are entitled to receive.\u00a0 We do not know that we can probably get their taxes prepared for free based upon our income.\u00a0 We do not know that many of the people preparing their returns have no real understanding of tax laws, the returns or sometimes even basic math they are simply relying on the computer system to ask them questions.\u00a0 We do not understand that we cannot really afford the car we just spent our entire refund to purchase because there will also be maintenance, license and insurance costs. We do not know.\u00a0\u00a0 As a result, there are billions of dollars being made every year off of this ignorance and our community is suffering tremendously.<\/span><\/div>\n
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However, we cannot place all the blame on opportunist coming into our communities from the outside we are also hurting each other.\u00a0 You probably have seen the humorous picture posted on Facebook about men getting with women they do not see any other time of the year but tax season.\u00a0 While we may joke and laugh this is a very real situation.\u00a0 I personally have seen men who only have time for women during tax season.\u00a0\u00a0 The even more hurting fact is many times this is the mother of their children.\u00a0 Thus, like the outside exploiter they are using and exploiting our women for monetary gain and usually to the detriment of our children.\u00a0 The fact that there are men who will do this and women who will accept it speaks volumes about our community.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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It is easy to point to the abuse and exploitation that is occurring in our communities because we can usually point the finger at someone else.\u00a0 What we are not discussing is the neglect that falls in our own lap.\u00a0\u00a0 It is evident that there is a serious breakdown in our family, education and community structures.\u00a0 However, there is also a breakdown in our church.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The black church has long been where members of the community had to come together for survival and to provide and receive wholistic care.\u00a0 Historically, the church is where people not only formed their faith and received spiritual care; this is also where people learned about voting and the economic impact of the black community.\u00a0 It seems that the church did not completely depend on the school systems and world to educate their people then and it should not now.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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Since the lack of information is causing so much trouble in the community the church has a responsibility to help the community by providing this information.\u00a0 I understand that there are some churches that are offering some financial freedom courses.\u00a0 There are also some who offer tax return preparation, but this is not enough.\u00a0 We must do more.\u00a0 We need more churches working to eradicate this issue in our community.\u00a0 There are members of our congregations who are well informed, educated and capable of helping those who are not.\u00a0 Why are we not asking for our congregations to help?\u00a0 Our communities need us and we are not providing what they need.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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We must break the tax season cycle of abusing and exploiting our community.\u00a0 We can no longer offer them tax preparation and do not provide them with information on budgeting or savings.\u00a0 We need to educate the members of our community about financial freedom, but we also need to make sure that they truly understand the financial decisions they make.\u00a0 We cannot just say do not go to the gas station to get your taxes prepared.\u00a0 We need to give them information to help them make better decisions on where and with whom they do business.\u00a0 Make sure they know the necessary questions to ask of those who seek to do business with them.\u00a0 We cannot just say do not give him your entire check.&nb
\nsp; We need to empower them to have more understanding of their true self worth.\u00a0 We must remove the ignorance and replace it with information.\u00a0 This type of education is not provided in the high school or even college for most.\u00a0 Therefore, if the church is truly seeking to help the community and make a change in the community it should be a vehicle that brings the community that information.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Just imagine if a coalition of churches offered well publicized classes open to the community that provided them with helpful information like this.\u00a0 What would our communities look like if instead of people spending their entire refund in one weekend shopping buy their children the latest pair of Air Jordan tennis shoes they saved it for a down payment on a house?\u00a0 What would happen if more people could get their taxes prepared at the local church instead of the let us get all your money tax preparation places that clutter our community? What would happen to our communities if instead of just saying we are here to help the community we actually did?\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
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Now I am not that na\u00efve to think that the church educating the black community on finances will solve our problems.\u00a0 I recognize that we have many other problems to contend with in our churches and our community.\u00a0 Nonetheless, I do truly believe that informing our community could bring about some change.\u00a0 If nothing else it could eliminate some of the exploitation in our community.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That\u2019s my two cents.\u00a0 Spend it where you like.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kamilah Hall Sharp R3 Contributor Typically people think of a new year as a time of new beginnings, new opportunities and a time for trying out new resolutions.\u00a0 The one thing I have come to realize is the start of a new year is the beginning of tax season.\u00a0 While some are dreading gathering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTax Season. 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