The Law: Something to Fear

Mckenzi Kerrigan

Thus far, Tax Aid has only been training on how to help the people we will be serving. The Tax Aid leaders described different types of situations we may see while helping to file people’s taxes. Hector’s story reminded me of an example situation we may come across at tax aid. “As I walked back up the driveway, I told my wife to just stay sitting because I thought if we looked nervous he would come back and take us away right then and there” (Orner 98). This reminded me of how at Tax Aid training they kept repeating that if the people we were working with seemed uncomfortable or nervous about giving us information to just be kind and remind them that we are only there to help, not to report them or have taken away. “I receive 800 dollars a month from the state disability, and my wife, Isabel, works for the both of us now” (Orner 98). This quote from Hector reminded me of a situation that we may see on Tax Aid. It is often hard to share financial circumstances with strangers. When the immigration agent was asking questions it was intimidating, at Tax Aid we try to make the clients as comfortable as possible and show them we are only there to help them file their tax returns, and hopefully get them some money back.

“In story after story, the law is most often something to fear, not something to call upon for help” (Orner 9). At Tax Aid training we were warned that many people may be hesitant to give their information and may not open up to us as quickly as we anticipate. It is important to remember that “the law forces undocumented people to live in a state of permanent anxiety” (Orner 9) when assisting the clients at Tax Aid. The goal there is not only to assist people with their tax return, but to form relationships and make clients feel comfortable so that they keep coming back. One story that the leaders told at the training was about a man who first came to Tax Aid without a social security number so he was issued an ITIN for tax purposes. A few years later, as he had continued to go to Tax Aid to file his tax return, he told the volunteers there that by issuing him and ITIN and helping him with his taxes he had eventually received a social security number. Tax Aid did not just help this gentleman with his taxes, they had helped him to become a citizen so that he no longer had to live in fear of the law as an undocumented worker.