Assemblyman Rob Walker (R, C, I, WF-Hicksville) announced that this year's National Earned Income Tax Credit Day will take place on Jan. 31. On this day elected officials, community partners and hard-working families come together to kickoff the tax season and raise awareness of the availability of the Earned Income Tax Credit. The local kick-off is sponsored this year by the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island, Bethpage Federal Credit Union and the Long Island Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition.

"The earned income tax credit is an effective federal program that returns federal and state government dollars to working families and individuals," said Walker. "I urge all working families and individuals to take advantage of this program when filing their state and federal income tax returns this year."

The Earned Income Tax Credit, sometimes called the Earned Income Credit, is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families. When the Earned Income Tax Credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit. To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a tax return.

According to the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island, nearly 27 percent of eligible Nassau residents do not apply for or receive the tax credit. This year the council is providing assistance and information to all Long Islanders on the tax credit eligibility and tax preparation assistance. For tax assistance and tax information contact the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island by calling 483-1110 or visiting them online at www.hwcli.com.

Five-year registration expiration for 60 million subscribers begins in 2008. When the national Do Not Call Registry was created in 2003, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) built a five-year re-registration mechanism into the registry policy and a way to periodically purge the list of disconnected or reassigned numbers. The purging of the list, which now contains more than 150 million phone numbers, is done periodically to ensure that the registry is as accurate as possible.

The FTC is currently in the process of amending its policy of dropping numbers from the list after the five-year expiration period. At a subcommittee hearing held before U.S. House of Representatives their director stated that, "during the process to amend the Do Not Call Registry's policy, the FTC will not drop any telephone numbers from the Registry based on the five-year expiration period pending final congressional or agency action on whether to make registration permanent."

"We are all aware of cases when bureaucratic policy initially designed to help us have gone wrong. If you registered your phone number with the registry in 2003 and want to ensure you are still protected or would like to register a new number, there are two options available to you," said Walker.

First, check online by visiting the FTC website at www.donotcall.gov and click on either verify a registration or register a telephone number and follow their instructions to complete the registration process. After completing the process, the FTC will notify you via email if your number is registered and when your registration will expire.

Another method to check your registration status or register a new number is by calling the FTC's toll-free number (1-888-382-1222) from the phone you wish to register and follow the instructions provided. This will prevent any future lapse in coverage and unsolicited sales calls.