Taxes and the Citizenry

INTG-403 Citizenship: Taxes and the Citizenry
Instructor: Judy Peterson

This course is an examination of the political, social, cultural, and economic issues affecting tax policies. The course will address the rights as well as the responsibilities of citizens with regards to taxes. Students will delve into issues such as the common good, fairness, economic growth, wealth, and age. They will investigate these issues in relation to current tax policy as well as ways in which citizens can be involved in change. The course will also involve an experiential component in which students will understand basic income tax through instructional workshops and be certified to prepare income tax returns by passing a certification test. The experiential component is in partnership with the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)Program in which students assist the members of the community, who are the benefactors of tax policy, in the preparation of their tax returns. Common issues encountered in these returns are social security; capital gains; credits such as the earned income credit, education credit, child tax credit, and dependent care credit; income exclusions; and itemized deductions. Previous knowledge of tax, accounting, or business is not required. Students cannot be concurrently enrolled in ACCT 364 or INTR 364. In the spring of 2009, this class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11 a.m.

To satisfy the experiential portion of the course, which begins February 2nd, 2009, there will be four workshops held in the last two weeks of January (Monday, Jan. 19; Wednesday, Jan. 21; Monday, Jan. 26; and Wednesday, Jan. 28). The workshops are designed to assist students in understanding the tax issues they will be dealing with in the experience and to help them be successful for the certification test. The workshops are mandatory.

The students will sign up for seven experiential tax sessions helping taxpayers prepare their individual income tax returns. Students can select from the following sessions:

Thursdays, February 5th & 12th: 7 - 9 p.m. at Monmouth College; Mondays and Wednesdays, beginning February 1st: 7 - 9 p.m. at Monmouth College; Saturday mornings, beginning February 7th: 9 - 11 a.m. at Galesburg Library; Saturday afternoons, beginning February 7th: 1 - 4 p.m. at Warren County Library.

Since the VITA Program has been a formal part of the Monmouth College curriculum since 2000, a number of statistics has been collected about its success through the years. Click on the following links to see the: taxpayer surveys, summary results, and course evaluations.

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Contact: Professor Craig Watson: E-mail

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