New York State Assemblyman Rob Walker (R, C, I, WF - Hicksville) and Free File Alliance, a voluntary coalition of private sector tax software preparation companies, would like to help moderate and low income Long Islanders take advantage of free electronic tax preparation services.

"Seven out of 10 taxpayers nationwide qualifies for this service simply because they earn less than $54,000 per year. If you qualify and would like to keep more of your income tax return in your pocket, you should visit these websites to take advantage of this service," said Walker. "The e-file process is simple, and allows the filer to deposit their refund directly into their savings or checking account, usually within two weeks of filing."

The Free File Alliance provides free services to taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $54,000 or less. Taxpayers who would like to take advantage of the program can find the Free File program at freefilealliance.org or on the Internal Revenue Service website at www.irs.gov. Taxpayers will find offers made by industry participants and choose the offer that best fits their needs. The taxpayer is then transferred to the company's website to prepare and electronically file their taxes.

In its sixth year, the Free File Alliance is a public-private partnership between the Internal Revenue Service and 19 private sector tax preparation companies, providing free assistance to taxpayers. This service has enabled more than 19.2 million taxpayers, most with low and moderate incomes, to file tax returns at no charge over the last five years, noted Assemblyman Walker.

New York State Assemblyman Rob Walker (R, C, I, WF - Hicksville) expressed concern with the governor's budget proposal that will shift the cost of funding a number of programs from the state to local governments. The programs include non-emergency public assistance, two-parent Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients and youth detention facilities at a cost to taxpayers of more than $83 million, of which Nassau County's share comes to $3,289,695.

"With closer scrutiny of the governor's budget, he is attempting to close a $4.5 billion budget gap with additional fees, taxes and cost shifting measures that will directly impact the hard-working families and businesses in Nassau County," said Walker. "When you start to add the additional fees, taxes, cost shifting measures on top of his plan to freeze the Middle Class STAR rebate check program and a reduction of education aid to 37 percent of Long Island's school districts, homeowners and businesses can expect higher property taxes and this is unacceptable."

The governor's budget proposes shifting 2 percent of the non-emergency public assistance cost from the state to the counties. For the families on TANF, the counties will assume a 27 percent share of the cost for those families, and for families on Safety Net assistance, where the state and counties share equally the cost of the benefits, the counties will assume 52 percent of the costs, or $705,257 for Nassau County.

The two-parent TANF proposal was enacted in the 2006-07 state budget in order to meet new federal work participation requirements of the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. This compliance generated about $15 million in federal TANF savings that was being split equally between the state and counties. In this year's budget the governor is proposing that the state keep the entire share of the savings, or $164,438 for Nassau County.

In an attempt to encourage counties to use more cost effective measures in dealing with non-violent youth while their cases are pending in Family Court, the governor's proposal will require that local governments pay 100 percent of the detention costs - $2,420,000 for Nassau County.