PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed legislation on Thursday requiring tax preparation services to disclose their fees upfront. But the bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Rue Landau, had to make a big concession to get the full council’s support.
After years at Community Legal Services, the Human Relations and Fair Housing commissions, Landau arrived in council this year knowing what she wanted to tackle: tax preparers who dupe Philadelphians into forking over the lion’s share of their returns.
“We heard story after story of people who might be getting back $1,000 but the tax preparer’s charging them $700,” she said. “That is not what we want for Philadelphia. We want to keep money in the pockets of Philadelphians.”
Her bill requires tax prep companies to tell taxpayers their fees before starting the process. Originally, the bill would have also required that they tell low-income, elderly and disabled clients that they’re eligible for free tax prep. Landau agreed to take that out when the bill met resistance.
“Amending the bill in this way made the bill the strongest it could be, in terms of support,” she said. “To me, the most important part of the bill was to have the tax preparers disclose their fees, so I feel great about the fact that that remains.”
With the revision, the bill passed unanimously.
Landau also said she has a new strategy for making eligible taxpayers aware of free services. She made a budget request for funds to advertise the free services next tax season.