Page 2 The Skanner January 11, 2017
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
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News Editor
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Reporter
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Photographer
2016
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Opinion
Blackonomics: Black-owned ComproTax Is One of the Best
H
aving written many arti-
cles on what takes place
from January through
April, each year, rela-
tive to our tax payments and
refunds, I understand that
we need reinforcement and
repetition on certain issues.
Just as advertisers and mar-
keters understand the power
of continuous exposure to
their messages, Black folks
need the same thing, especial-
ly when it comes to getting us
to act on basic, sound, practi-
cal, and collective economic
and business principles. So
please take a little time to
read my latest repetitive mis-
sive on one of this nation’s fin-
est Black-owned businesses:
ComproTax.
The tax preparation in-
dustry generates between
$6 billion and $9 billion an-
nually, which indicates that
there are plenty of tax re-
turns to go around – the IRS
estimates that there will be
over 250 million filed by 2018
with revenues of $11 billion!
Compared to our percentage
of population (13 percent),
Black-owned tax preparation
businesses should have rev-
enues of at least $1 billion.
As far as I am concerned,
ComproTax alone should be
a billion-dollar business, con-
sidering it has some 220 affili-
ates throughout the nation.
One advantage that Compro-
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
Tax brings to its customers is
year-round services. That’s
because ComproTax is more
than a tax preparation ser-
vice. Most of the large chains
only come into our neigh-
borhoods for four months
or so, until around April 15.
ComproTax is always there,
providing Tax Preparation
“
many Black events across the
country. In other words, they
are “Conscientiously Con-
scious” business owners.
Mayfield stated: “When it
comes to tax preparation, you
have a lot of choices. So, why
choose ComproTax? Compro-
Tax provides complete and
professional tax preparation
and bookkeeping services
with the personal attention
that you deserve. We have
over 220 offices nationwide
and we are steadily growing.
In addition to our convenient
office locations, we have hun-
dreds of mobile affiliates that
will come directly to you. Our
ments that affect your taxes,
being reliable, and being con-
fidential. That’s why our cus-
tomers come back to us year
after year. Don’t trust just
anyone to handle your taxes
and confidential books. Con-
tact a ComproTax profession-
al and begin a relationship
with someone that you can
trust.”
One thing I personally love
to brag about is the Compro
Event Center, a full-service
convention center built,
owned, and operated by Com-
proTax a few years ago and
located in Beaumont, Tex-
as. Managed by Fred Zeno,
another
ComproTax
stalwart and long-time
business
associate
to Mayfield and the
co-founders, the Event
Center is a spacious and
luxuriously appoint-
ment venue that can be used
for weddings, various meet-
ings and conventions, parties,
and banquets.
The One Million Conscious
and Conscientious Black Con-
tributors and Voters will hold
our quarterly Training and
Orientation gathering there
January 6-8, 2017. It would be
great of other Black groups
would do likewise, it is one
thing to talk about support-
ing Black venues, but it is
much better to act upon those
words.
Compared to our percentage of pop-
ulation (13 percent), Black-owned tax
preparation businesses should have
revenues of at least $1 billion
Training, Insurance Prod-
ucts, Bookkeeping Services,
Payroll Services, Business
Mentoring, and Small Busi-
ness Consulting.
Additionally, ComproTax
Founder Jackie Mayfield, and
his two co-founders, Yusuf
Muhammad and Craig John-
son, believe in something
many Black businesses only
talk about: Giving back. They
return some of their profits
to community activities and
charitable causes, and they
provide sponsorships for
tax preparers are committed
to ongoing training to ensure
that you get the best service
and the best tax refund avail-
able. In short, we offer a vast
network of trained profes-
sionals that are ready to serve
you in tax season and out of
season.”
He continued: “At Compro-
Tax we are about relation-
ships. We work hard to get
your business and develop a
relationship of trust. We do
this by being knowledgeable
about new laws and require-
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Tickets on sale
The Skanner Foundation
31st Annual
Martin Luther
King, Jr.
BREAKFAST
Jan. 16, 2017
www.theskanner.com/
mlk-breakfast-tickets
Why Black Women Must Be Involved in the Women’s March
“A
in’t I A Woman,” railed
Sojourner Truth, “I
have ploughed and
planted and gathered
into barns, and no man could
head me! And ain’t I a wom-
an! I could work as much and
eat as much as a man – when
I could get it – and bear the
lash as well. And ain’t I a wom-
an? I’ve bourne thirteen chil-
dren and seen most all sold off
and when I cried out with my
mother’s grief, none but Jesus
heard me! And ain’t I a wom-
an.”
The similarities and dif-
ferences between Black and
White women are captured
in Sojourner Truth’s famous
December 1851 speech. She
movingly talks about the men
who say women should be
“helped into carriages, and
moved over ditches, and have
the best place everywhere,”
while “nobody ever helps me
into carriages or over mud
puddles, or gives me any
best place.” Both Black and
White women cry a mother’s
grief for the loss of a child,
and both endure labor pains.
Black women’s lives, while
similar, are different and of-
ten disadvantaged, because
they lack the privilege that
White women so easily take
for granted and often fail to
notice or remedy.
Thus, it did not surprise me
that a White woman in Hawaii
Julianne
Malveaux
NNPA
Columnist
called for a “Million Women’s
March” on Washington, D.C.
on the day after the Presiden-
tial inauguration. And it did
not surprise me, when White
women took up the call. Too
“
reached out to her asking for
help. She said they said they
“needed to ensure that wom-
en of color were involved.”
Now, there are four co-
chairs of the Women’s March
on Washington, including
African American leader Ta-
mika Mallory, Latina activist
and part of Harry Belafonte’s
Gathering for Justice, Carmen
Perez, a White woman entre-
preneur whose t-shirts have
been galvanizing, Bob Bland,
and Palestinian activist Linda
I applaud Tamika Mallory.
She told me “I was not willing
to let this convening come to-
gether without having Black
women involved.” In other
words, White women can-
not speak for all women. If
White women had their way,
the march and rally would
probably focus only on equal
pay and reproductive rights.
Thanks to Tamika and her
colleagues, a statement of
principles, to be issued next
week, will also address racial
justice, police brutality,
criminal justice reform
and mass incarceration.
Absent the involve-
ment of young Black
women like Tamika, it
would be extremely easy
for me to ignore this march.
But because some women
have drawn a line in the sand
and insisted on space for
Black women in this march,
they deserve support. They
remind me of the women of
Delta Sigma Theta Sorori-
ty, Inc., who in 1913 elbowed
their way into the Women’s
Suffrage March when their
involvement was unwelcome.
They reminded the Women’s
Suffrage Association that
Black women were also wom-
en, and we would not be ex-
cluded.
Absent the involvement of young,
Black women like Tamika Mallory, it
would be extremely easy to ignore the
Women’s March on Washington
bad these same White women
did not advocate more force-
fully against the man who
won the Electoral College vote
for the Presidency.
My first inclination was to
ignore this women’s march.
The organizers have repeat-
edly struck me as tone-deaf
and indifferent to the diverse
needs of women. But when I
talked to Tamika Mallory, the
dynamic young woman activ-
ist who was once Executive
Director of Rev. Al Sharpton’s
National Action Network, I
shifted my perspective. Ta-
mika shared that, just a few
days after the initial call to
march was issued, organizers
Sarsour. I applaud the diver-
sity in leadership, but wonder
how many women of color
will turn out on Jan. 21. Tens of
thousands of women from all
over the country are expect-
ed, with more than 100,000
saying they plan to be there.
But many African American
women have looked askance,
perhaps with distaste from
the cultural appropriation
of the initial organizing de-
scriptive, “Million Women’s
March”, perhaps because we
recoil from the strong sup-
port White women gave the
President-elect, choosing race
loyalty over gender, class, or
personal interest.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
