Coos County residents are due millions of dollars? There’s no need to raise taxes or wait for an act of Congress to get them.

Just file your taxes.

More specifically, find out if you are eligible for the earned income tax credit. The credit was created in 1975. It’s intended for people who work but don’t make much money. The Internal Revenue Service calls the it one of the largest anti-poverty programs in the country.

Commissioner Nikki Whitty said she became aware of the lack of filers a few years ago at a forum sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a human service group. Since then, Whitty has made it her mission to spread awareness.

“It’s money that is available to be spent in the local economy,” Whitty said.

She said the extra money could help them start a savings account or take care of expenses they couldn’t otherwise afford.

“It can put money in your pocket even if you didn’t have any income tax withheld,” said Bill Brunson, an IRS spokesman. 

For tax year 2007, more than 230,000 Oregonians received the credit, totaling almost  $413 million. But 25 percent of those who are qualified for it don’t file for the credit, according to the IRS. Some eligible taxpayers who routinely do not claim the credit are childless workers and non-traditional families, such as grandparents raising grandchildren.

Coos Bay resident Jenny Walker, 23, said she was among those unaware they might qualify for the tax credit. The single mother, with a 2-year-old daughter, works at Wal-Mart and made about $18,000 in 2008. She could get up to an almost $3,000 credit this year.

“It would help a lot, to pay off bills and stuff,” Walker said.

People don’t have to have children to qualify. Individuals who make less than $12,880 or married couple without children earning less than $15,880 can file for the credit and get as much as $438 back for 2008.

One of the main reasons qualified people don’t collect the credit is that they don’t file a tax return at all, said Diane Kimes, South Coast district coordinator for the AARP tax aide program.

If an individual makes less than $8,950 a year or a married couple makes less than $17,900 a year, they aren’t required to file tax returns. With no legal reason to file a tax return, many people don’t.

“They don’t realize they are shooting themselves in the foot,” Kimes said.

Depending on income, qualified filers could get back up to $4,800 this year. The average credit falls between $1,900 and $2,000, Brunson said.

Kimes said though it is called an anti-poverty program, people shouldn’t look at it as charity or welfare. She said it is an incentive. The more money a person makes, up to a certain point, the bigger the credit. Kimes said people working low-income jobs could get a big boost from the credit.

 “I’ve had women with children start crying saying ‘I’m going to get some of that back?’” Kimes said. “At that income level everything helps.”

Brunson said people can collect the credit for 2008 and retroactively for the two years before that.

AARP site coordinator Teresa Slechta at College Park Community Church in Coos Bay said the economic downturn and numerous layoffs in 2008 may increase the number of people who can take the credit this year.

“If people were laid off or just worked part of the year, they should check and see if they qualify,” Slechta said.

Kimes said her motto is “When in doubt, find out.”

“The IRS isn’t going to call and say, ‘Hey we have $50 of your money. You want it back?’” Kimes said.