Like many seniors living in Fairfax County, Mary Hind said she appreciates the opportunity to apply for tax relief. The only problem, she said, is navigating the forms that come with the tax refund.
"I would have spent hours and hours doing this," said Hind, who lives in Burke Centre. "I thought, 'Oh, I'd better get someone from HR Block to do these forms.'"
Instead of hiring a professional, though, Hind attended an outreach program Tuesday, Nov. 29, where representatives of the Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration came to the Braddock District to help seniors make sense of their tax relief forms. After reading about the workshop in the newspaper, Hind said, she decided to see what it was all about.
"I had never bothered before with tax relief, because it was as bad as doing my taxes," she said.
According to Fairfax County statistics, people over the age 65 make up 8.5 percent of the county's population. A community assessment survey conducted in 2000 showed that 80 percent of county seniors are retired, with nearly 19 percent working either full- or part-time. Of Fairfax County residents over 65 living on their own, 44 percent live in two-person households, 29 percent live in one-person households and 11 percent live in households with five or more people. According to the community assessment survey, the median household income of Fairfax County seniors is $60,000.
Virginia Carter of Burke and J. Brown of Fairfax, who attended the tax relief workshop Tuesday, said they both love the quality of Fairfax County schools and the availability of activities for seniors. Much has changed since they first moved to the area in the 1970s, said Carter and Brown, with farms giving way to suburbs and the area becoming more convenient.
But the Burke area has also seen increases in the cost of living, said Desi Baltimore, manager of the tax relief program, who was on hand Tuesday to meet with citizens and go over tax relief forms.
"Taxes are pretty high in Fairfax County," she said. "This program helps [seniors] with that."
Paula Louers of the Department of Tax Administration agreed. "Seniors are on fixed incomes and don't get increases in pay, but taxes continue to increase — the tax relief allows people to keep their homes, to live in Fairfax County," she said.
TUESDAY'S WORKSHOP saw an impressive turnout, said Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock).
"I was really impressed," she said. "Everybody so far has been very pleased with the opportunity to sit down and ask questions, and provide their own situations."
The workshop also benefited county staff, said Bulova, by allowing them to address any problems right there rather than going through a longer process.
The challenge most people face with a tax relief form concerns determining the amount of relief they are eligible for, said Baltimore, and the documentation required to prove it. Most of the questions Baltimore said she encountered were from seniors just making sure all their paperwork was in order.
"It was painless," said Eugene Rodrick of Annandale, adding that he came to the workshop to double-check his paperwork. "I had guessed most of my answers, and it turned out my guesses were right. I had all the numbers already."
In October, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to raise the income level for tax relief eligibility to the maximum required by state, taking it from $52,000 to $72,000. Eligible net financial asset levels also went up from $240,000 to $340,000 for residents meeting age, disability and income requirements.
According to the community assessment survey, 24 percent of Fairfax County seniors have a yearly household incomes between $25,000 and $49,999, while 23 percent have incomes between $50,000 and 74,999. Fourteen percent of seniors receive incomes of less than $25,000 per year.
About 5,690 seniors are currently enrolled in the tax relief program, said Department of Tax Administration director Kevin Greenlief. The widened eligibility requirements will add about 3,200 people to that list before the end of the cycle, he said.
For Brown, this increase was helpful, since the tax relief program counts a household's total income when determining eligibility. While saving for a new house, Brown said, her daughter lived at home with her, and the combined incomes put Brown out of the income range to receive tax relief.
"I couldn't receive benefits at all when they counted the total receipts, and [my daughter] needed to save for a house," said Brown.
"It's a huge benefit," said Louers of the raised income requirement. "A lot of people didn't qualify, because they were just under the limits set years ago."
For Carter, the program was a great help. "It's excellent for older people," she said. "So many of them get confused when it comes to paperwork."