1 BEFORE THE CALIFORNIA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION 2 450 N STREET 3 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 4 5 6 7 8 REPORTER'S TRANSCRIPT 9 SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 10 11 12 13 14 ITEM P 15 OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS 16 ITEM P1 17 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 18 1. 2016 VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 19 (VITA) 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 REPORTED BY: Kathleen Skidgel 28 CSR NO. 9039 1 1 P R E S E N T 2 3 For the Board Jerome E. Horton of Equalization: Chairman 4 5 Sen. George Runner (Ret.) Vice Chair 6 7 Fiona Ma, CPA Member 8 9 Diane L. Harkey Member 10 11 Yvette Stowers Appearing for Betty T. 12 Yee, State Controller (per Government Code 13 Section 7.9) 14 Joann Richmond 15 Chief, Board Proceedings Division 16 17 Cynthia Bridges Executive Director 18 19 ---oOo--- 20 For the Board: Bill Hain Acting Chief 21 Outreach Services Division 22 23 ---oOo--- 24 25 26 27 28 2 1 450 N STREET 2 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 3 SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 4 ---oOo--- 5 MR. HORTON: Ms. Richmond. 6 MS. RICHMOND: Our next matter is item P 7 Other Administrative Matters. Item P1 is the 8 Executive Director's Report. 9 MR. HORTON: Welcome, Ms. Bridges. 10 MS. BRIDGES: Good afternoon, Chairman and 11 Members. I'm Cynthia Bridges, Executive Director. 12 The first item for the report today deals 13 with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program for 14 2016. I would like to turn my report over to Bill 15 Hain who will share the plans for BOE's 16 participation and educating our State residents 17 about California's new Earned Income Tax Assistance 18 Credit via the VITA Program. 19 MR. HORTON: Welcome, Mr. Hain. Please 20 introduce yourself for the record. 21 MR. HAIN: Hi. I'm Bill Hain. I'm the 22 administrator over our Customer Service and Outreach 23 sections at the Board -- excuse me, Outreach 24 divisions at the Board of Equalization. 25 I'm here -- I was here a couple months ago 26 to give the results on the 2015 VITA. And now we're 27 gearing up for 2016 in the efforts we're going to 28 be -- that will be forthcoming this year with the 3 1 onset of the State EITC, it's a -- we're were 2 looking at expanding our efforts to -- to get more 3 money back into the communities, to help our -- our 4 communities through both the VITA and the EITC 5 programs so they will be marketed together. 6 I do have a overview of the actions over 7 the next few months. And then we'll be coming back 8 to the Board to report on them as we go through 9 them. I don't know if they were distributed, but 10 here, I'd like to have you -- it's just a 11 month-by-month high level summary of what we're 12 doing. 13 We're still in the process of determining 14 the full scale of the operations within each of your 15 equalization districts and we've been meeting with 16 your staff. So we're with your -- with you to -- in 17 order to make these plans so we can have a more 18 robust VITA Program this year. 19 We think it's an important part of our 20 community and we think we miss out on a lot of 21 dollars in California that are possible for our -- 22 especially our hurting communities, our working 23 poor, to be more successful. And so we look forward 24 to your support as we expand the VITA effort this 25 year. 26 MR. HORTON: Thank you, Mr. Hain. We 27 certainly appreciate your efforts in this regard, as 28 well as those of Rafael Zuniga and his efforts to 4 1 coordinate with all the Members with their unique 2 way, but very effective ways of reaching out to the 3 community to address the -- the perpetuation of 4 poverty in our society. 5 At the same time, you know, we have an 6 opportunity to recapture billions of dollars which 7 will stimulate the economy, generate more sales tax. 8 But the unique thing about it from the Board of 9 Equalization's perspective, it allows the team 10 members, our team members, who participate and, you 11 know, cultural diversity training, goodwill 12 development, as well they learn a little bit about 13 income taxes and it seems that we need to do more of 14 that these days. 15 Anyway, thank you so very much. 16 Discussion? 17 Member Ma. 18 MS. MA: Yes. Thank you. 19 I see in November that you have volunteer 20 training and certification. So I'm just wondering, 21 what is the plan to train and certify? I understand 22 there's a link on the IRS website where people could 23 go for training, but are we planning to hold live 24 training for people? 25 MR. HAIN: We are actually planning on 26 holding some live training in addition to the -- the 27 IRS link where people can -- can register themselves 28 up. 5 1 We're looking at certifying two of our 2 people at the Board of Equalization to provide that 3 training internally. We've already been in contact 4 with the IRS with that. We're working on -- 5 So, depending on -- on each district's 6 involvement and the number of volunteers, we can 7 bring the training out to the people, is one option. 8 We also have, for the people who've been volunteers 9 in the past, they can self-certify through the 10 website very -- pretty quickly. 11 And so we're in the -- in the process of -- 12 we've been in contact with the IRS. They agreed to 13 provide volunteers to assist on that training, and 14 we'll also have our people trained. And also, we've 15 been communicating with Franchise Tax Board and have 16 their support in that effort. 17 MS. MA: So how long does the training 18 last, would you say? 19 MR. HAIN: We're planning to try to do it 20 within an eight-hour period. There may be some 21 homework for people, but we're trying to get it 22 done, if we do use any kind of State time, within 23 one day. 24 There's -- Chairman, I know you're looking 25 at me like I'm -- I'm a little bit nuts, and I'm not 26 completely nuts. There's going to be some outside 27 assignments with that though. 28 MR. HORTON: Yeah, eight hours is a little 6 1 long, but far be it for me to -- 2 MR. HAIN: Oh, well, you know that -- we 3 were just looking at eight as an outside parameter. 4 I wanted to be conservative. 5 MR. RUNNER: Get a lunch break probably. 6 I just -- quick question. I -- I -- you 7 know, in -- in follow-up, what I'd like to hear, 8 too, is what the FTB outreach efforts are in the -- 9 you know, in the Earned Income Tax Credit issue. I 10 mean this is clearly a big deal for them. This is 11 their deal. And I'm rarely interested to see how 12 aggressively that they are going out there as we 13 partner with them. 14 MR. HORTON: Yeah, they -- 15 MS. STOWERS: May I speak? 16 MR. HORTON: Sure. 17 MS. STOWERS: I think this plan is -- you 18 guys are working with the Franchise Tax Board. 19 MR. HAIN: Yes, we are. 20 MS. STOWERS: We -- FTB has a very 21 aggressive plan. They have a marketing plan to get 22 the word out. Looking at post cards as opposed to 23 letters, print media, radio announcements, PSAs. 24 And the focus right now is volunteers, volunteers, 25 volunteers. 26 We have a general idea where a large 27 population of the claimants may reside, so we'll be 28 going out into that area. We're also looking at 7 1 businesses that tend to hire the potential claimants 2 and have them promote the credit as well. 3 And my pitch, since I'm going to be a 4 certified trainer/coordinator working sites every 5 weekend, I challenge you, Board Members, to get 6 trained. Come on out. 7 MR. HORTON: All right. All right. There 8 you go. So we have a challenge on the table. 9 MS. HARKEY: A challenge. 10 MR. HORTON: Excellent program. I mean the 11 FTB is collaborating with almost every agency in the 12 State. 13 But I do want to point out that the State 14 program is -- has a threshold that is consistent 15 with those who generally do not file tax returns. 16 And we need to -- it's a very unique effort. It's a 17 hand-to-hand combat to be able to reach those 18 individuals and the traditional media just doesn't 19 get us there. And so to that -- in that regard, I 20 actually believe the Members and their own 21 respective districts, to the extent that FTB is 22 putting out a word to utilize the Members and their 23 respective district, because they're in a position 24 to do that hand-to-hand, you know, contact, reaching 25 the churches and everything of that nature and that 26 assistance, I think, would be of huge value to those 27 non filers. 28 Unfortunately, about $180 million on an 8 1 annual basis goes un -- unreturned to individuals 2 who need it the most. 3 Thank you, Bill -- my apologies. Thank 4 you, Mr. Hain, for -- and Rafael as well. We 5 appreciate both your efforts. And I can't see all 6 the way out there, but I think that's my good friend 7 from the personnel that's shifted over, abandoned 8 us. 9 Anyway, I'm just kidding. Thank you very 10 much. We'll receive and file. Appreciate your 11 efforts. And maybe a report back on the Franchise 12 Tax Board. 13 MR. RUNNER: Well, I think -- I think there 14 was going to be a report anyhow, right? 15 MR. HAIN: Yes. 16 MR. RUNNER: Yeah, at that time. 17 MR. HAIN: Okay. 18 MR. HORTON: Okay, good. Thank you. 19 MR. HAIN: Absolutely. Thank you. 20 MR. HORTON: Ms. Bridges. 21 MS. BRIDGES: That concludes that report. 22 MR. HORTON: Thank you. 23 ---oOo--- 24 25 26 27 28 9 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 State of California ) 4 ) ss 5 County of Sacramento ) 6 7 I, KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, Hearing Reporter for 8 the California State Board of Equalization certify 9 that on September 16, 2015 I recorded verbatim, in 10 shorthand, to the best of my ability, the 11 proceedings in the above-entitled hearing; that I 12 transcribed the shorthand writing into typewriting; 13 and that the preceding pages 1 through 9 constitute 14 a complete and accurate transcription of the 15 shorthand writing. 16 17 Dated: October 2, 2015 18 19 20 ____________________________ 21 KATHLEEN SKIDGEL, CSR #9039 22 Hearing Reporter 23 24 25 26 27 28 10