No one likes to pay taxes, whether they are income, local property or sales taxes. Yet, there are times when some, usually at the lower end of the economic spectrum, pay too much in taxes, particularly to Albany and Washington.

With this in mind, officials in Washington some 31 years ago started to focus on making certain that not only did people file their taxes, but also filed them correctly (as one official representing the Internal Revenue Service indicated this week - no one benefits from jailing non filers and those in debt). Through the years the effort has devolved down to the local level; to have community organizations assist people in filing not only on time, but also to take advantage of any deductions they are eligible for.

This year the United Way (a board on which I sit ex-officio) headed a collaboration that included the Cayuga-Seneca Community Action Agency, the Human Services Coalition of Cayuga County, the Internal Revenue Service and 23 local organizations, put together the CA$H (Creating Assets, Savings & Hope) for Cayuga County Program to do just this. The United Way funded the program in addition to utilizing a bequest from the estate of the late Isabelle Stapleton. Using dozens of volunteers, the coalition trained a group of tax preparers to help people prepare and file their taxes.

The numbers, reported on Tuesday night at a reception at The Sunset, indicated this was a greater than expected success for Cayuga County, one that will have a multiplier effect within our community. According to United Way President James DeRusha, 180 individuals and families participated in the program, a substantially higher number than was expected. More importantly $321,000 in refunds were received by those who participated in the CA$H Program. That averaged out to $1,912 per filer - money that will stay in this community and be used to purchase local goods and services.

What was most important was that $195,000 of the refunds were due to participants taking advantage of the largely misunderstood and often not applied for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC is a deduction for low to moderate income wage earners. Prior to the CA$H Program being created, it was felt that close to $3 million in EITC deductions were not applied for, annually, in Cayuga County.

By the way, if $321,000 in refunds was not enough good news, it was compounded by three other items. Those who participated in the free program saved $39,000 in tax preparation costs, according to John Mallon, who covers Cayuga County for the IRS. Even better news is that the average rate for EITC filing through the local program was almost twice the national rate and that the program had a 96 percent e-filing rate. That is 16 percentage points above the IRS#' own national target, according to the IRS's Paul Usinski.

The CA$H Program was a great success this year and it can only be expected that the participation will only multiply in the coming year.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be e-mailed at cozguytho@aol.com