Tax consultants offer advice for quick returns
Beta Alpha Psi is offering
free tax-time workshops
until this year’s deadline
By Nika Carlson
News Reporter
April 15 is more than a month
away, but experts say it is never too
early to file your tax return.
Tax consultant Blane Hamilton,
who works for H&R Block, said
changes for tax returns are simple this
year, but filing taxes can be difficult
under any circumstances. Whether
students are looking for free advice or
paid assistance, many options are
available for those who need help.
The University's accounting hon
ors society Beta Alpha Psi is offering
free tax preparation workshops in
March and April for U.S. citizens.
The group held its first workshop on
Feb. 28 and will have its second
workshop tomorrow from 10 a. m. to
4 p.m. in 228 Chiles. It will hold two
more sessions April 3 and April 10 at
the same location.
Accounting students, with the aid
of professionals, will help people pre
pare basic returns or even offer advice
for those who want to do their own
taxes, program coordinator Nick
Wright said.
"If someone comes in with
$ 150,000 in income with tons of real
estate and stock options, that's not re
ally what we're here to do," he said.
"We're here to do student returns and
low-income returns."
Wright said those who come for
help should bring their 2002 tax re
turn, their W-2s (which document
how much income the individual
earned last year) and any other forms
that might be useful in filing a return.
Additionally, University students
should bring in their tuition statement
RIGHTS
continued from page 1
health care, education and shelter.
She said 54 countries have grown
poorer since 1990, 34 have a lower
life expectancy and "chronic poverty
is virtually unchanged." At least 1.2
billion people live in poverty, and of
those, more than half suffer from
deprivation of at least one human
right and one-third suffer from dep
rivation of two or more basic human
rights, Robinson said.
In September 2000, a large
gathering of UN member states
gathered at the Millennium As
sembly, where they agreed on the
Millennium Declaration. The
member states consented to meet
eight goals by 2015, including
plans to eradicate extreme pover
ty and hunger and achieve univer
sal primary education. At a later
conference about financing the
goals, it was determined that the
United States would have to con
tribute $50 billion per year to sat
isfy the goals.
One year later, Robinson said
funds were diverted from human
rights because of "an attack on dem
ocratic values," referring to Sept. 11,
2001. She added that ever since, the
United States has had poor human
and civil rights records.
In September 2002, Robinson
left the UN. She now leads the Eth
ical Globalization Initiative, which
she said her friends in Ireland call
a "hell of a high fallutin" title for a
small project. EGI has identified
three objectives that could con
tribute to greater human develop
ment and security. These issues are
fostering more equitable interna
tional trade and development,
strengthening responses to
HIV/AIDS in Africa and shaping
more humane migration policies,
according to the EGI Web site.
Robinson said a significant rea
son for human trafficking is be
cause the process of globalization
has allowed motion in jobs, goods
and services, not to the people
who need jobs.
Robinson defined globalization
as "the progressive integration of
economies and societies."
Quoting from the Universal Dec
laration of Human Rights, Robinson
said, "Everyone has duties to the
community in which alone the free
and full development of his person
ality is possible." She added, "If you
don't know you have a duty and do
something about it, your personality
isn't fully developed."
During a question-and-answer
session following the talk, Robinson
was applauded when she criticized
the IMF for having a policy that
weakened already weak health care
and education programs. Robinson
also encouraged parents to teach
their children at a young age about
human rights.
"You don't protect human rights
from the outside — it has to be tak
en care of locally," she said.
Justin Ahrenholtz is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.
also called form 1098-T, which summa
rizes the amount of tuition and fees
paid last year. As long as nobody claims
a student as a dependent, the student
can use the form to get an educational
credit that will reduce the amount of tax
owed, 1 lamilton said.
Help at the Beta Alpha Psi work
shops is given on a first-come, first
serve basis, so Wright recommends
people get there as soon as possible.
"I've heard in past years they've had
to turn people away," he said.
The society, which has about 10
computers for filers to use, helped 23
people at its first workshop.
The University is offering tax help
for non-U.S. residents as well. The Of
fice of International Programs is hold
ing workshops to assist non-residents
in filing a return. The first one is
scheduled for this afternoon from 2
p.m. to 4 p.m. in 207 Chapman. More
information about filing non-resident
taxes and workshops is also available
on the Office of International Pro
gram Web site at http://oip.uore
gon.edu/iss/tax/.
There is a wealth of general tax in
formation on the Internal Revenue
Service Web site, including a section
with information for students. The
Web site, http://www.irs.gov, gives up
dates on changes in tax law, directs fil
ers to online and telephone filing op
tions and answers frequently asked
questions about filing returns. The
Web-sawy can also download and
print out tax forms. The IRS also has
several telephone lines with tax help.
One line has pre-recorded messages
on common tax topics. That number
is (800) 829-4477. Another line gives
free live advice. That number is (800)
829-1040.
Oregon's Department of Revenue
Web site, http://www.dor.state.or.us,
also has downloadable tax forms and
advice on filing state taxes.
For those with more complicated
tax returns, professional help is easy
to find. The QwestDex yellow pages
list more than 70 different specialists
in tax return preparation.
Hamilton, who works for H&R
Block, said many students use the na
tional financial planning chain to pre
pare their taxes.
Prices can range from $50 for a very
simple return to $600 for an extreme
ly complex one, he said.
"The next couple of weeks is a slow
time for tax returns, so now is the best
time to come in and get your taxes
done," he said.
Tax return forms are also available
at U.S. Postal Service offices and in
the Knight Library in the Document
Center.
Contact the city/state politics reporter
at nikacarlson@dailyemerakl.com.
CON COURT
continued from page 1
duty" to not to follow a court decision.
Andries was one of the students who
filed the original grievance last year, and
he said the current Election Board's fail
ure to learn from last year shows blatant
disregard for law students who want to
participate in the ASUO elections.
"The fact that it happened last year,
and they knew about it — they should
be able to learn from that mistake,"
Andries said. "They're not taking into
consideration the entire student body.
That's ridiculous. You can't be discrim
inating against 500 to 1,000 students.
That's just the way it is."
The Election Board currently wants
to hold the primary election on April
12-14 and the general election on
April 19-21. April 23 is the first day of
finals for the law school.
Day said the proposed election
dates are the only viable options. The
elections can't be moved a week later
because they'll coincide with law
school final exams, and they can't be
moved a week earlier because April 7
is the last day to drop classes without
a "w," which will clog DuckWeb. Day
said the elections have to run on the
days the board proposed despite the
inconvenience for law students.
"I do believe that this is the best time
to run student elections," Day said.
Andries disagreed.
He ran for ASUO office last year
and was elected as a student senator,
but he said he was at a disadvantage
because he had to campaign and
study for final exams at the same time.
"It's really difficult," Andries said.
"Law school finals are your entire
grade. You got a lot of pressure from
studying for that. I mean, I know peo
ple who are in the library from 7 a.m.
to 8:30 or 9 at night — that's just the
way it is."
He added that when the Elections
Board schedules an election that
conflicts with the law school's aca
demic calendar, it limits law stu
dents' ability to participate in student
government.
"You're just not on a level playing
field," Andries said. "It's just not equal."
Contact the news editor
at jenniferbear@dailyemerald.com.
LOCAL
continued from page 1
recognitions that other people's fami
lies have," Miller said. "We've been
looking forward to it — or giving up
on it, depending on when you ask —
for a long, long time now."
Fidanque said details of the cere
monies are still being planned, but
that the couples are arranging quick
ceremonies because Multnomah
County acted swiftly to approve the
marriage licenses.
"We're doing it on short notice, so
all of our boys and our extended fam
ily won't be able to be here, but they
are definitely all supporting and they
are all here in spirit," Miller said.
"You've got two days. You don't really
have time to plan a real wedding."
Miller and Hendrickson have three
children, and the couple doesn"t ex
pect the marriage to impact their chil
dren's lives much, if at all.
"We've waited a long time, there's no
reason to wait any longer," Miller said.
"We live here and it was kind of impor
tant to us to do it here, if we could."
Fidanque said the couples elected
to wait until after the standard 72
hour waiting period ends on Saturday
before getting married in order to pre
vent possible legal challenges.
"I cannot think of any action that
could be taken that would be success
ful in invalidating these marriages,"
Fidanque said. "We're certainly pre
pared to defend them."
He added that the ACLU — which
joined Basic Rights Oregon in asking
Multnomah County commissioners to
review the issue before their landmark
decision — is not putting pressure on
other Oregon counties to follow suit.
"We'd be delighted if other counties
follow suit, once their attorneys have
had a chance to review the legal is
sues," he said. "Personally, I look for
ward to the day in Oregon when any
couple who is committed to each oth
er, regardless of their gender, can go
into a county clerk's office and obtain a
license And it won't be a big deal."
Contact the crime/health/
safety reporter
at lisacatto@dailyemeraid.com.
Contact the people/culture/
faith reporter
atjaredpaben@dailyemerald.com.
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