To: SECU Board of Directors
Dear Chairman Ayers,
When in 2022, you and the SECU Board of Directors abruptly ended the ten year old tax preparartion service - used by as many as 100,000+ members in need of your help; your branch staff asked for advice. What should the members be told? The advice given by your senior staff was:
"...they will just need to find another solution."
Why have you developed this Marie Antoinette attitude? A "Let them eat cake" disdain for the membership? Y'know that approach didn't work out all that well for her....
The
SECU tax preparation program was developed with the IRS in conjunction
with its VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and TCE (Tax Counseling
for the Elderly) programs.
The VITA/TCE programs have operated for over 50 years, helping people who need assistance in preparing simple, basic tax returns including:
- People who earn less than $58,000,
- Persons with disabilities,
- Folks 60 years of age or older, and
- Limited English speaking tax payers.
According to the
National Society of Accountants, the average fee in 2021 for preparing
Form 1040 with Schedule A to itemize personal deductions, along with a
state income tax return, was a flat fee of $323. The average fee for Form 1040 with the standard deduction, plus a state income tax return, was $220.
Let's calculate how much SECU members, using a standard deduction saved when SECU took the time to help them:
Average tax prep fee: $ 220
SECU tax prep fee: $ 75
Each member saved: $ 145
In 2021, 77,000 SECU members using the service x $145 saved = $11,165,000 saved* ...for other important things like ballet lessons, a catcher's mitt, a baby sitter for a night out, the college fund,...the phone bill!.
$11 million bucks - Money SECU left in the pockets of some of its most vulnerable members!
* Not to mention the $5,775,000 in fee income (77,000 x $75 = $5,775,000) which SECU also earned.
Mr. Ayers, were you and the SECU Board "too busy" to ask management - on behalf of 100,000 members - to solve any "disruption" the tax service might be causing in the branches? Isn't that what you hire capable senior management to do?...or were they too busy too?
SECU - New Culture, New Direction?
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