Debit Card Tax Refunds

Debit card refunds for lower-income folks should work in Michigan, By Susan Tompor, September 12, 2010, Detroit Free Press: “The U.S. Treasury plans to test the delivery of tax refunds in plastic for lower-income individuals who do not have bank accounts, and Michigan seems to me like a no-brainer for a pilot program. ‘I think Michigan would provide fertile ground,’ said David Marzahl, president of the Center for Economic Progress, the nation’s largest tax-preparation provider for low-income families. The Chicago-based center leads the National Community Tax Coalition, a group of community-based tax and financial services programs that serve more than 1 million low-income families nationwide. Marzahl noted that communities in Michigan offer racial, ethnic and economic diversity. Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael S. Barr has a Michigan connection, too, having taught at the University of Michigan Law School. More important, consumers in metro Detroit — and other cities in the Midwest — have long been targeted by tax-preparation companies that pitch high-cost refund-anticipation loans to individuals who do not have bank accounts…”