Fair Tax Fees

For the last two years ACORN members have been waging a campaign against Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs). RALs are short-term loans with triple-digit interest rates that are marketed extremely aggressively to low-income families. Customers are often charged over $150, on top of the regular tax prep fees, just get to their own tax dollars back a week or so faster than they otherwise would.

ACORN’s campaign has attacked RALs in several ways, such as directly targeting tax preparers to change their practices, conducting door-to-door outreach to warn families about the high costs of RALs, operating VITA sites which offer free tax preparation, and working for legislation on the city, state, and federal level to protect consumers.