2008 Taxpayer Survey

235 taxpayers completed the survey (222 answered question 1 and 233 answered question 5).

On a scale of 1 – 5 (1 = very dissatisfied, 5 = very satisfied), rate the following items:

	ITEM	1	2	3	4	5	2008 Wghtd. Avg.	2007 Wghtd. Avg.	2006 Wghtd. Avg.	2005 Wghtd. Avg.	2004 Wghtd. Avg.
1	Amount of time you had to wait.	.4% 1 person	1.4% 3 people	11.3% 25 people	14.4% 32 people	72.5% 161 people	4.57	4.55	4.61	4.42	4.56
2	Privacy during your meeting.	.4% 1 person	.9% 2 people	6.4% 15 people	15.3% 36 people	77.0% 181 people	4.68	4.59	4.66	4.60	4.63
3	Ability of the volunteer to provide the assistance needed within the parameters of the VITA program.			3.8% 9 people	9.4% 22 people	86.8% 204 people	4.83	4.82	4.89	4.75	4.79
4	Courtesy of the volunteer who helped you.			.9% 2 people	5.1% 12 people	94.0% 221 people	4.93	4.94	4.97	4.91	4.94
5	Once the return was completed, the volunteer explained the entries on the return.		.4% 1 person	1.7% 4 people	5.1% 12 people	92.8% 218 people	4.90	4.94	4.92	4.88	N/A (Question not on survey in 2004)
6	Explanation of what you need to do next.		.4% 1 person	2.6% 6 people	5.6% 13 people	91.4% 213 people	4.88	4.86	4.92	4.85	4.78
7	Overall satisfaction with service (considering all items).			1.7% 4 people	7.7% 18 people	90.6% 213 people	4.89	4.90	4.93	4.84	4.86

The two items that continue to score lower than the others deal with waiting time and privacy. The constraints for both these items are equipment and suitability of space. We have attempted to resolve the waiting time the past four years by providing more sessions in the first two busy weeks. However, we opened a new site in Galesburg last year, and as expected, it continues to be quite busy. Once again, the program grew over last year (9% in prepared returns, 14% in e-filed returns) and the number of students increased (23 students this year compared to 20 last year). We continue to work well within our constraints of equipment and space, as our constituents appear to be satisfied overall with our service (100% answering 3 or above and a weighted average score of 4.89 out of 5). We are excited about the breakout rooms planned in the new business building that will better serve our constituents.

Some taxpayers did not turn the survey over to answer the following questions on the back. Also, on the first two questions, the taxpayer could give more than one answer.

We are quite pleased with the 100% for BOTH “would you use this service again?” and “would you recommend this service to a friend needing tax assistance?” We have never received below 100% for these two items.

Word of mouth was added to the survey for the first time in 2006; it is the most popular way for people to find out about the program. Otherwise, it’s previous use of the site, MC website, and the newspaper. Also, the Galesburg Library does some of its own advertising (for example, through its newsletter). Some of the other ways in which people found out about the program that they wrote on the survey: senior care center, parent, went to school here.

The rest of the survey provides interesting information. The majority of our constituents earn less than $32,000, and those folks are the ones we are trying to target. The age categories are similar to last year, although the 40-59 had increased last year from the prior year.

	Return Preparation	Electronic Filing	Tax Advice	Other
Why did you visit this site?	138 hits	117 hits	17hits	17 hits
	IRS	Previous use of this site	Poster	Newspaper	TV/Radio	Word of mouth	MC VITA Website	Other
How did you find out about this site?	7 hits	65 hits	5 hits	31 hits	9 hits	83hits	30 hits	26 hits
	Yourself	Paid tax professional	Friend or relative	Other	Not applicable
If we had not helped you today, who would have prepared your return?	20.9% 46 people	48.2% 106 people	18.2% 40 people	9.1% 20 people	36% 8 people
	YES	NO
Would you use this service again?	100% 216 people
	YES	NO
Would you recommend this service to a friend needing tax assistance?	100% 215 people
	Under 25	25 – 39	40-59	60-65	Over 65
What is your age?	22.5% 50 people	16.7% 37 people	35.1% 78 people	9.5% 21 people	16.2% 36 people
	Less than $32,000	$32,000 or more
What is your household income?	73.8% 158 people	26.2% 56 people