TaxPayers Are In Tears Living Paycheck To Paycheck And Need To File For Free!!

i work with the Campaign For Working Families servicing low to moderate income families with their federal and state tax preparations and filing, some locations can assist with city taxes for entrepreneurs. i enjoy the service we provide to our working individuals and families because we are  assisting with financial empowerment. Some of our clients are the working poor and really cannot afford to pay a tax accountant. Heartbreaking are the tears we see from our clients who are living paycheck to paycheck and look forward to a lump sum via their tax refunds only to learn that they will not get as big of a return because all that overtime means their tax bracket changed and their refund is lower, or they were penalized for early distributions of their retirement plan. We are certified by the IRS to prepare returns for these taxpayers for free.

We at the Campaign For Working Families have great partnerships with United Way and Clarifi. United Way is the financial partner, who made this free tax filing season possible in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Clarifi offers financial empowerment to our clients free of charge.

For Small Business out of our scope check out 

For Artist out of scope check out 

Thursday, February 18 5:00 pm-7:00 pm

[ Leeway Office -1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832 ]

Click [here] to RSVP

Whether you’re getting grants, selling or performing art, self-employed or have an LLC, you still have to file taxes. But, what are the best filing options for your individual situation? With over 25 years experience working with artists and small businesses, Christianne Kapps will offer advice, handouts, and help explain some of the more confusing tax subjects for artists. In addition, Christianne will explain the City of Philadelphia’s Business Income and Receipts Tax and how it affects artists. Workshop is free, you must RSVP.

All attendees will receive a discount coupon to use Christianne's or her partner's services. Additionally, attendees who are Leeway grant recipients will receive a coupon for a free 15-minute individual session with Christianne.

ABOUT CHRISTIANNE KAPPS

Christianne Kapps has been working with small businesses for 25 years. Ms. Kapps has a BA in Art History from Tyler School of Art and an MFA from PennDesign and maintains a ceramics studio in Philadelphia while bookkeeping and consulting with very small businesses, start-ups and small not-for-profit organizations throughout the area. Ms. Kapps works with self-employed individuals preparing tax returns and helping to navigate the world of the IRS as well as state and local taxes.  

Want To Get Freaky With Me?

Take a stand with me and stop the war on women and men who enjoy having consensual sex when we want how we want!! Times are a changing and sex workers all over the world are uniting to demand our human rights to be who we want to be. Your support is needed to end sexual slavery aka the rape culture that wants to point fingers and label sex workers as not fit for society.

US PROStitutes Collective P.O. Box 14512, San Francisco, CA. 94114, 415 626-4114uspros@prostitutescollective.net, www.uspros.net
Please write and/or call in to support New Hampshire Bill HB1614 to decriminalize prostitution! Dear Friends, You may have heard the exciting news that a Bill is being put forward to decriminalize prostitution in New Hampshire. NEWS This is the first bill that we know of that is proposing decriminalization in the US!  The sponsors have said it was influenced by the groundbreaking Amnesty International policy supporting decriminalization. HB1614 has been introduced by three women legislators, two Democrats and one Republican. It “legalizes consensual sex between consenting adults and makes solicitation of sexual contact involving a person under 18 years of age or through the use of force and intimidation a felony”. On Thursday January 28 there will be a hearing on the Bill at the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee. We are in touch with one of the sponsors of the Bill. Please consider writing in or calling them to make your case in support of decriminalization. Points to make in your letter may include that decriminalization would: ·       Increase safety as sex workers could work together and more easily report violence; ·       Enhance health as sex workers could more easily access services and wouldn’t be deterred from carrying condoms for fear that they will be used as evidence of prostitution; ·       Free up police time to focus on the investigation of violent crimes such as rape and domestic violence rather than the policing of consenting sex (particularly important as the Committee is primarily made up of former and current law enforcement); ·       End criminal records which bar sex workers from getting other jobs. This is crucial for anyone who may want to leave the sex industry and is unable to. You may also want to raise that rising poverty is increasing the numbers of women, particularly mothers, going into prostitution and that tackling poverty and providing resources would be much more effective. New Zealand successfully decriminalized prostitution in 2003 and a government review showed positive results: no rise in prostitution; women able to report violence without fear of arrest; attacks cleared up more quickly; sex workers more able to leave prostitution as convictions are cleared from their records; drug users treated as patients not criminals. In August, Amnesty International’s voted “to protect the human rights of sex workers, through measures that include the decriminalization of sex work”. This appears to have been an impetus for this legislation. Please see below the list and emails of committee members to send your letters to or call. US PROS will be going to New Hampshire to testify in support of the bill next week so we’ll send a report when we get back. On the road to decriminalization in 2016!
House Criminal Justice and Safety committee members: HouseCriminalJusticeandPublicSafety@leg.state.nh.us
Robert Fesh (r) rmfesh@comcast.net, 603-434-1150 Shawn Sweeney (r) shawn.sweeney@leg.state.nh.us, 603-265-0319 Robert Fisher (r) robert.fisher@leg.state.nh.us, 802-727-0441 Dennis Green (r) Dennis.Green@leg.state.nh.us, 603-234-7776 Timothy Robertson (d) timothyrbrtsn2@gmail.com, 603-352-7006 Andrew OHearne (d) Andrew.OHearne@leg.state.nh.us, 603-558-1038	Dick Marston (r) dick.marston.nhstaterep@gmail.com, 603-361-8192 Arthur Barnes (r) arthur.barnes@leg.state.nh.us, 603-893-4754 John Martin (r) john.martin@leg.state.nh.us, 603-774-3098 Laura Pantelakos (d) lcpantelakos@comcast.net, 603-436-2148 Robert Cushing (d) renny.cushing@leg.state.nh.us, 603-926-2737 Latha Manjipudi (d) Latha.Mangipudi@leg.state.nh.us, 603-891-1239
John Burt (r) john.burt@leg.state.nh.us, 603-624-5084 Ed Corneau (r) ed@edcomeau.org, 603-522-2275 Harold Parker (r) hbpcd6@gmail.com, 603-491-6807	Roger Benrube (d) rogerrberube@hotmail.com, 603-692-5653 Geoffrey Hirsch (d) Geoffrey.Hirsch@leg.state.nh.us, 603-938-2833 Len DiSesa (d) Len.DiSesa@leg.state.nh.us, 603-343-4344

Or go directly to the links:

Robert Fesh (r)	Dick Marston (r)	John Burt (r)
Shawn Sweeney (r)	Arthur Barnes (r)	Ed Comeau (r)
Robert Fisher (r)	John Martin (r)	Harold Parker (r)
Dennis Green (r)	Laura Pantelakos (d)	Roger Berube (d)
Timothy Robertson (d)	Robert Cushing (d)	Geoffrey Hirsch (d)
Andrew O'Hearne (d)	Latha Mangipudi (d)	Len DiSesa (d)

File Your Taxes For Free In Person or Online and Don't Forget The Affordable Care Act!!

Tax Season is here and no you don't have to be a master at tax law to prepare and file your taxes for free. In Philadelphia and New Jersey, The Campigan for Work Families has sites and various hours in Philadelphia and various New Jersey locations. We are also in need of volunteers, you can attend a training or go online to learn how to prepare taxes for families and small businesses. 

Feel comfortable to do your own taxes? Log on to our online free file and file your federal and state for free!!

2015 taxes & your health insurance

If you had health coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace or another source in 2015, you may have to include information about it when you file your federal taxes. If you didn’t have coverage, you may have to pay a fee.

See all available health care tax forms, instructions, and tools.

The most important things to know:

You must file a tax return for 2015

If you were enrolled in a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace in 2015 and used premium tax credits to lower your monthly payments, you must file a federal income tax return for 2015 — even if you usually don’t file or your income is below the level requiring you to. (The premium tax credit is sometimes called a “subsidy,” “discount,” or “savings.”)

You’ll get Form 1095-A by early February

If anyone in your household was covered by a Marketplace plan in 2015, you’ll get Form 1095-A, Health Insurance Marketplace Statement.

• It includes information about Marketplace plans anyone in your household had in 2015.
• It comes from the Marketplace, not the IRS.
• You’ll get it in the mail by early February. If you have an online Marketplace account it’ll be there too — maybe before it comes in the mail.

You’ll use information from your 1095-A to complete Form 8962, Premium Tax Credit. This is how you’ll “reconcile” — figure out if you used the right amount of tax credit during the year.

If you have your 1095-A

If you don’t have your 1095-A

You’ll need to “reconcile” your premium tax credit

If you had a 2015 Marketplace plan and used premium tax credits (also known as “subsidies,” “discounts,” or “savings”), you’ll have to “reconcile” when you file your federal taxes. This means you’ll figure out if you used more or less tax credit than you qualify for. You'll compare two figures:

• The amount of premium tax credit you used during the year. (This was paid directly to your health plan so your monthly payment was lower.)
• The premium tax credit you actually qualify for based on your final 2015 income.

How to reconcile: 3 steps

If you had other health coverage, you won’t get a 1095-A

Depending on what kind of coverage you had in 2015, you may get a different form — 1095-B or 1095-C. Or you may not get any form.

If you get a 1095-B or 1095-C, you don’t need to include it when you file your federal taxes. Read the instructions on the back of the form and keep it in a safe place with your other tax documents.

If you didn’t have any health coverage in 2015, you must pay a penalty or claim an exemption

• The penalty for not having coverage in 2015 is $325 per adult or 2% of your household income, whichever is higher. Learn more about the 2015 penalty.
• Exemptions from the requirement to have coverage are available based on health coverage or financial status, certain hardships, some life events, and membership in some groups. Learn about exemptions from the health coverage requirement.

Get help with taxes

• Find out where to get free volunteer tax help.
• https://www.healthcare.gov/taxes/

Is My Tax Dollars Paying Police To Serve and Protect or Are My Tax Dollars Paying For Racial Profiling?

Life's ignorance fixed on selfish dependent behaviors has a history of repeating oppressive systems on vulnerable human beings. All eyes are on the human rights violation caused by the policing going on in The United States of America. To understand the "Policing Mentality" we need to understand the origins of policing.

A Brief History of Slavery and the Origins of American Policing

Written by Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D.

Download a free eBook of The History of Policing in the United States

The birth and development of the American police can be traced to a multitude of historical, legal and political-economic conditions. The institution of slavery and the control of minorities, however, were two of the more formidable historic features of American society shaping early policing. Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities. For example, New England settlers appointed Indian Constables to police Native Americans (National Constable Association, 1995), the St. Louis police were founded to protect residents from Native Americans in that frontier city, and many southern police departments began as slave patrols. In 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the nation's first slave patrol. Slave patrols helped to maintain the economic order and to assist the wealthy landowners in recovering and punishing slaves who essentially were considered property.

Policing was not the only social institution enmeshed in slavery. Slavery was fully institutionalized in the American economic and legal order with laws being enacted at both the state and national divisions of government. Virginia, for example, enacted more than 130 slave statutes between 1689 and 1865. Slavery and the abuse of people of color, however, was not merely a southern affair as many have been taught to believe. Connecticut, New York and other colonies enacted laws to criminalize and control slaves. Congress also passed fugitive Slave Laws, laws allowing the detention and return of escaped slaves, in 1793 and 1850. As Turner, Giacopassi and Vandiver (2006:186) remark, “the literature clearly establishes that a legally sanctioned law enforcement system existed in America before the Civil War for the express purpose of controlling the slave population and protecting the interests of slave owners. The similarities between the slave patrols and modern American policing are too salient to dismiss or ignore. Hence, the slave patrol should be considered a forerunner of modern American law enforcement.”

The legacy of slavery and racism did not end after the Civil War. In fact it can be argued that extreme violence against people of color became even worse with the rise of vigilante groups who resisted Reconstruction. Read More at: http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/brief-history-slavery-and-origins-american-policing

• EKU Online: Police Studies
• Eastern Kentucky University
• 521 Lancaster Ave.,125 Stratton Building
• Richmond, KY 40475
• Phone: (859) 622-7568
• allison.smock@eku.edu

The police brutality has hit home and i too am in shock and wondering what type of people take an oath to serve and protect, yet totally disregards all lives as humans that matter. How did the us against them mentality become our reality. i learned from retired Philadelphia police Capt. Ray Lewis, "One of the aspects of a personality is a degree of sensitivity and compassion," he said. "Unfortunately, they do not hire those people that score high on sensitivity. They reject them believing those people will quit because they can't handle the blood and guts on the street. They view that as wasted training money. "What they don't realize is that hiring the insensitive individual is going to result in brutality cases, and when those cases go to court, that's where they lose millions," Lewis said. "It's pennywise and pound foolish."http://www.philly.com/philly/news/Ex-

Urban cities like Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore to name a few are under federal investigation for human rights violations caused by policing. You can read the 91 points recommendation for Philadelphia here http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-w0753-pub.pdf


Police who are paid with our tax's dollars are upset that we the people are demanding transparency and accountability for our tax dollar supported service and protection. So how the police have totally separated themselves from the rest of society and have become outsiders is the most damaging move away from safe environments. 

As state legislatures convene across the country, police unions and their lobbyists have begun a nation-wide campaign to preserve – and, where possible, expand – “Blue Privilege” in its various guises, from efforts to criminalize video-recording police to the preservation of the officially sanctioned larceny called “civil asset forfeiture.”

Police unions in Maryland are pressuring the state legislature not to override last year’s gubernatorial veto of a package of bills that would decriminalize possession of marijuana paraphernalia and place restrictions on the practice of asset forfeiture. Senate Bill 528 would establish a $300 threshold for cash seizures, redefine “presumptions and … certain burdens related to forfeiture of money” (which is to say, it would place the burden on the state, not the property owner), and prohibit the transfer of confiscated property to federal control “unless there is a federal criminal charge or the owner consents.” That last provision would impede the pernicious practice of “equitable sharing,” in which seized property or cash is handed over to the Feds as a way to prevent victims from seeking redress through state courts; the Feds then keep a small portion and kick back the rest to the state or local agencies that confiscated it.

In his veto message last May, Republican Governor Larry Hogan explained that he opposed the measure because “the Maryland State’s Attorney’s Association, the Maryland Chiefs of Police Association, and the Maryland Sheriff’s Association have requested a veto” of the reform measure – and who is the governor that he should resist the will of those who stand to profit from drug war plunder?

When faced with public criticism over the abuses associated with narcotics prohibition – of which asset forfeiture is the outstanding, but hardly the only, example – police unions and the professional associations they control, plead helplessness: They only enforce the laws, rather than writing them, their spokesmen tell the public. Yet in Maryland, as elsewhere in the country, law enforcement lobbyists are actively intervening to prevent reforms that would rein in those abuses.

Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/blue-privilege-prevalent-day/#jixKSWJVxhUUEDb9.99

Pennsylvania House Bill 1538

Will make it illegal for police departments to release the names of police officers involved in shootings or in incidents of excessive “use of force” until they are charged with a crime. If an officer is not charged with a crime, victims, family members and the general public will not be able to find out the name(s) of the questioned officer(s) until an investigation is completed, and they will then have to go through the “Right to Know” process which takes additional time. An officer’s name can still be withheld.

"This controversial piece of legislation encompasses everything that is bad governing. The legislation is supported by special interests groups in the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police, the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police and the State Troopers Association. There were no hearings or time dedicated for public input. The bill remained dormant in the House Judiciary Committee until November 10, where it was sent to the floor with a unanimous 25-0 vote, and then cruised through the House with a 162-38 vote."

We, the people have been excluded and our voices are not even a consideration. This is NOT Due Process. We, the people and the undersigned demand this "legislation" be REPEALED IMMEDIATELY! We also demand a statement from Pa Governor, Tom Wolf as to why this "secretive" bit of legislation is pending and may be PA State Law. Repeal Pennsylvania House Bill 1538

Contact these Representatives and let them know how you feel!!

State Representative Russ Diamond

State Representative Patty Kim

State Representative Jason Dawkins

State Representative Joanna McClinton

State Senator Rob Teplitz

State Senator Judith Schwank

State Representative Brian Sims

The tensions running through our nation is deeply rooted in quite kept derogatory racist practice. The Fraternal Order of Police was supposed to be organized to serve and protect us taxpayers not judge and kill us. Racism is such an ugly practice and detrimental when that practice becomes the fuel that creates self centered laws. Racism creates the us and them mentality. There are good people and bad people, good police officers and bad police officers. 

Black New York City Police officers often think that they are being racially profiled by their white colleagues, according to a shocking new report by Reuters.

The wire service interviewed 25 black male officers, ten current cops and 15 retired. With just one exception, they said that they have been victims of racial profiling by police, both when wearing the uniform and while off duty. For its article, Reuters identified racial profiling as “using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.”

In the article, Reuters equates what they experience as the same type of racial profiling that cost Eric Garner his life after he was swarmed by police officers and one applied a choke hold to him.

The black police officers said their experiences included being pulled over by police for no reason (multiple times for most), being stopped and frisked, thrown into prison vans, and being physically assaulted and threatened. Black cops say that they’ve had their heads slammed against vehicles and guns brandished in their faces.

“The black officers interviewed said they had been racially profiled by white officers exclusively, and about one third said they made some form of complaint to a supervisor.”

“All but one said their supervisors either dismissed the complaints or retaliated against them by denying them overtime, choice assignments, or promotions. The remaining officers who made no complaints said they refrained from doing so either because they feared retribution or because they saw racial profiling as part of the system.”

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/27/black_cops_fear_other_cops_partner/

How can we make policing work for the safety of all and end the racial profiling? We can learn and implement the strategies of the closely knit Shomrim communities. Shomrim (Hebrew: שומרים‎), or Shmira (Hebrew: שמירה‎), (lit. "watchers", "guards", "protection") are organizations of proactive volunteer Jewishcivilian patrols which have been set up in Haredi communities in neighborhoods across the United States and Britain (and in many other countries) to combat burglary, vandalism, mugging, assault, domestic violence, nuisance crimes, antisemitic attacks, and to help and supportvictims of crime. They also help locate missing people.

Shomrim volunteers are unarmed and do not have the authority to make arrests, other than citizen's arrest. They are effective in tracking and detaining suspects until police arrive.^[1][2] Occasionally some Shomrim members in the USA have been cited for using excessive force against suspects, particularly those from outside their community.^[3][4][5]

In Brooklyn,^[6] Baltimore,^[7] and London ^[8][9] many residents call Shomrim prior to the police due to the former's faster response time.^[10]However, the volunteer patrol in New York has been criticized by the New York City Police Department for not always notifying police when a call comes in.^[3] In London however, the Hackney Police Borough Commander Chief Superintendent Matthew Horne complimented Shomrim on this point, saying that "they will generally know when is the time to call us. They don't tend to waste our time and they don't let people go".^[11]Additionally, Brooklyn Shomrim organizers have been accused of withholding information on suspected child molesters and other Jewish criminals, in keeping with an interpretation of the Torah prohibition against mesirah (informing on a fellow Jew to the non-Jewish authorities).^[12][13][14]

Shomrim have on many occasions received awards and commendations from the police for their work.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Many Shomrim organizations organise an annual Community Engagement Event, with advice on crime prevention and bike registration.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24][25]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shomrim_(neighborhood_watch_group)}

highest concentration of Hasidic Jews outside of Israel. It was called Borough Park and there was a neighborhood watch with some similar roles as the police and it was called Shomrim.

When one of my housemates had trouble with a peeping Tom they took care of it in their own way and never happen again

They confronted the man at his house in front of his family, and his father was a very important rabbi

that's how you get things done!!