(Orlando, FL) – The Boston Globe published an article on the efforts The LIBRE Institute to inform the Hispanic community on the benefits of the new tax law. The organization’s “Tax Ready” workshop – which is being rolled out in several states across the nation – is tailored to educate the Latino community on the benefits and impact of the new tax law and prepare them for the upcoming tax season.
The Boston Globe: Koch brothers’ groups seek to woo Hispanics
***
“We’re here to talk about tax reform,” said Martin, who led Monday night’s tax town hall. “How do you feel about taxes?”
Some Koch-backed groups offer English-language classes as part of a “Welcome to Florida” program.
She passed out a worksheet showing the old and new tax brackets, and then led the class through a detailed discussion of tax deductions and credits, and how they’ve changed under the new law. Then she had the class calculate how much a person making $35,000 a year would pay in taxes under the old law, and then again under the new law.
Her conclusion: $1,050 in savings thanks to tax reform, a figure that’s similar to other nonpartisan analyses. “If you’re noticing an increase in your paycheck, this is why,” she said. “That is one thing the tax reform did.”
***
About 100 people showed up to an English class last Monday evening, including about 40 new students. It was too many people to fit into Libre’s modest offices, so the group used space owned by the Casa Roca Orlando church. The Libre staff added a temporary banner to each classroom emblazoned with the slogan “Freedom drives progress.”
“Many of you from Puerto Rico understand the big debt that government can pile up,” Juan Martinez, the Orlando field director at Libre, told the group in Spanish. “In Venezuela, you’ve had a similar situation.”
He went on to explain that here, at the Libre classes, students would learn how they can avoid making those kinds of mistakes in their personal lives.
For interviews with a representative from The LIBRE Institute, please contact Brian Faughnan, 202-805-1581 or Wadi Gaitan, 202-853-4463
