State Sen. Mike Shirkey offers a free 2015 Michigan Taxpayer’s Guide, available on his website for residents of the 16th District.
The guide intends to supplement the Michigan Department of Treasury tax instruction booklets and help residents prepare their 2014 tax returns.
“The guides are available digitally, which is helpful for many and can be viewed or downloaded,” the office of Sen. Shirkey said in an email.
The Affordable Care Act changed parts of the 2015 tax law, which makes guides like these necessary.
Ninety percent of people do not file taxes on their own. According to Professor of Political Economy Gary Wolfram, 60 percent of taxpayers hire someone else to fill out their tax forms and another 30 percent use software, which leaves only 10 percent who know how to file taxes on their own.
“I’m not going to know as much about the tax code by using a software as I would if I’m sitting there and filling it all out myself,” Wolfram said. “Even if people don’t use Senator Shirkey’s guide, the fact that he’s handing it out will get people to observe that this is a further complication to the tax code.”
Taxes are based on a system of credits, Wolfram said. When a person fills out a preliminary tax form, they may either gain or lose credit depending on their income. Those with higher credit receive money, and those with lower credit may owe money.
Under the Affordable Care Act, when a person buys health insurance they receive additional state credit, and when they do not have health insurance, they are penalized because they owe state credit. This process is called state exchange, which has only been adopted by 14 states. People who live in these states are unaware why they now need to disclose health insurance information in taxes, which is why taxpayer guides are necessary.
Sen. Shirkey’s new guidebooks alert residents of these changes and may be found online at www.SenatorMikeShirkey.com.