Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Blog

  • Consumer Watchdog Agency Endangered

    An article appeared in yesterday’s New York Times print edition with details on how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created in 2011 by Congress in the aftermath of the housing crisis of the Great Recession, is being systematically attacked and dismantled. (For the NYT article by Stacy Cowley, click here.)

    A friend and subscriber send me a note to “join in taking personal action in support of reversing the potential elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” Yes, Jim D., consider it done. Below is more background information and my plan on how to combat the illegal and unconstitutional actions of Donald Trump and his team.

    In the past few days, the CFPB Director was fired, Elon Musk posted “CFPB RIP”, bureau employees were locked out of their offices, and the Project 2025 author and new Office of Management and Budget head, Russell Vought, gave unvetted DOGE employees access to CFPB data systems containing highly sensitive consumer and business information.

    The National Consumer Law Center, a leading consumer advocacy group, supplies the following:

    Financial companies have shown time and time again that they cannot police themselves. The Administration is trying to shut down an agency created by Congress to fix problems that caused over eight million people to lose their jobs and almost four million families to lose their homes during the Great Recession. The CFPB saves homes, stops fraud that ruins lives, and enforces key laws, winning $21 billion in relief for over 200 million people harmed by credit bureaus, big banks, debt collectors and predatory lenders.

    The illegal actions to shut down the CFPB halt work to safeguard people’s private information, protect bank customers when hackers raid their accounts, and help families save their homes when they’re unfairly rushed to foreclosure. The CFPB now appears poised to roll over and play dead in pending lawsuits by big banks and credit bureaus, letting them overturn new rules returning $5 billion in excessive overdraft fees to struggling families and removing medical debt from credit reports.” NCLC has joined with Democracy Forward to move to intervene in the overdraft fee litigation, and we are working to preserve the medical debt rule.

    The plan I propose includes the following:

    • Attend rallies. There is strength in numbers and you will feel part of a community.
    • Phone and email your elected officials, now. There is a list on this website of New Jersey and Pennsylvania Senators and Representative, here. For Members of Congress in the other 48 states visit https://www.congress.gov/members.
    • Contribute to organizations that support our rights and freedoms. My featured organization today is the National Consumer Law Project, a group I’ve been associated with for twenty-five years.
    • Join national, state, and particularly local political groups. My current favorites are: Indivisible, Indivisible Philadelphia, Mt. Airy Democrats, Turn PA Blue, and Vote the Ridge to name just a few.
    • Vote every election, twice a year.
    • Do something.

  • Direct File: Offers free federal income tax filing

    Millions of tax filers will be able to file electronically, easily and safely, their federal income tax returns directly to the Internal Revenue Service for free, beginning Monday, January 27.

    The Direct File pilot program rolled out to taxpayers in 12 states in 2023. For the upcoming season it will be available to 32 million residents as a permanent program in 25 states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It is available as an option, if you live in any of the following states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington state, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

    Go to directfile.irs.gov then click the box that reads, “Check eligibility now” to see if Direct File suits your needs. If you are not eligible you can connect with alternative filing options, particularly Free File. See https://panjcommunityresources.info/earned-income-tax-credit/.

    There are limitations to the new Direct File program, based on an IRS strategy of implementing new features after vigorous testing.
    1) It does not enable filing with itemizing deductions but is available to those who claim the standard deduction.
    2) There are only 25 states where the program is available, although the agency expects more states to join. (Illinois joined the program in January, 2025.)
    3) Direct File is programmed to accept only certain types of income and household income within a defined income range.
    4) A limited number of tax credits are currently incorporated into Direct File.
    5) You live and only worked in a participating state.

    Earlier this month, 141 Members of Congress sent a letter to Trump nominees in support of the expansion of the Direct File program, maintaining it would save taxpayers $11 Billion. The signers included the following area representatives: Senate: Cory Booker, Andy Kim; House: Donald Norcross (NJ-1), Frank Pallone (NJ-6), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Dwight Evans (PA-3), Madeleine Dean (PA-4), Mary Gay Scanlon (P-5), Chrissy Houlahan (PA-6), Summer Lee (PA-12), and Chris Deluzio (PA-17). For a full list of signers see text of letter.

    Twenty-nine House Republicans, including Mike Kelly (PA-16), issued a press release in December recommending termination of the program.

    The program was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, signed by President Biden. Don t let Washington lobbyists get their way again and make you pay $100, $200, or more to some big corporation for the privilege of sending your tax form to the IRS. Providing a way to file directly via Direct File is long overdue.

    For contact information of New Jersey and Pennsylvania representatives, see https://panjcommunityresources.info/nj-pa-congressional-delegations/.

    • Blog and Website: New Version

      To all my subscribers, I wish everyone a joyful Hanukkah, a merry Christmas, and a happy Kwanzaa. How are you?

      Since November this webmaster/blogger has been trying to stay busy. The best thing to do following a bad event is to get back to work. These days my work is local politics, voter engagement, and sharing resources. Let me share what I’ve been up to this past month.

      Every webpage, all twenty, have been updated since mid-November. No more broken or dead links.

      You will notice, if you were a subscriber from a few years ago, a new layout. Please excuse the “under construction” look. Some things need some work.

      Two webpages are updated this time of year, NJ Energy Programs and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Feel free to share the links to both pages. Many households are in need of help with there utility and heating bills. The EITC page provides information on a free tax filing program, Direct File, regardless of income.

      The EITC page provides information on the best new program to come along in years, known as Direct File. It is a free tax software program that allows taxpayers to file their federal income tax return directly to the IRS. Rolled out in 2023 as a pilot program in twelve states, it has been made permanent and available this coming tax year in twenty-four states, including New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Since it is a new program, it does not have all the bells and whistles and is useful to individuals who take a standard deduction and do not itemize.Save some of those dollars or get benefits you need.