Take Advantage of the EITC, Honoring Gabby, Cpl. Smith Comes to Washington and Reflecting on the SOTU -- January 27, 2012

Dear Friend:

Thank you for reading the Carson Courier. For additional information, please visit our website at https://www.carson.house.gov.

In this week's Carson Courier:

· Help Indiana, Don't Miss Out on Big Tax Refund

· Honoring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

· Hoosier Army Ranger Cory Smith Attends the State of the Union Address

· Reflection on the President's Remarks

Help Indiana, Don't Miss Out on Big Tax Refund

This Friday is Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Awareness Day, and I wanted to alert you that a staggering one out of five Hoosiers who of are eligible do not take the steps needed to claim this credit. Don't let this be you. Qualified taxpayers may receive up to $5,751, and because this is a tax credit, and not a deduction, you can actually receive a refundthat is larger than what you paid in taxes for the year. This is how the EITC helped lift an estimated 6.6 million people out of poverty, including 3.3 million children. Last year, an estimated 538,169 working-class Hoosiers received $1.16 billion in EITC. For middle- and working-class Americans, the EITC can help to put food on the table and help families save for the future. Please click here for the IRS' interactive tax assistant to determine whether you qualify for the EITC.

Honoring Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

My dear friend and colleague, Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced Wednesday her resignation from the House of Representatives. In January of last year, Gabby, members of her staff and her constituents were attacked during a community event in her district, leaving six dead and many more – including Gabby – seriously injured. After months of considerable physical therapy and rehabilitation, Gabby has made enormous progress, surprising her team of physicians who initially feared the worst. Gabby has made the determination that she must continue to focus on recovery, and allow someone else to represent the people of the 8^th District of Arizona in Congress. I commend her bravery, dedication, and devotion to her constituents, and I wish her a continued, speedy recovery. Her presence on the House floor will be sorely missed.

Hoosier Army Ranger Cory Smith Attends the State of the Union Address

I had the distinguished honor of inviting Corporal Cory Smith to the President's State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Corporal Smith recently served as a member of the 3rd Battalion 75th Ranger Regiment in the United States Army and has completed two deployments in Afghanistan. After bravely serving his country, Corporal Smith has sought to bring attention to the difficulties faced by many service men and women as they transition from military to civilian life. In order to raise awareness of the issue, Smith has joined forces with GallantFew, a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting veterans during their transition, and he is now in the midst of a 565-mile run home from his base in Columbus, Georgia to Indianapolis, Indiana.

You can read more about Cory here. And for more information about GallantFew, you can visit their website.

Reflection on the President's Remarks

President Obama, during his State of the Union Address, took time to address the issue of our time—job creation. With thousands of Hoosiers in my district still looking for work, I applaud the President for tackling the issue of growing our economy. His blueprint for a 21^st Century American economy based upon manufacturing, domestic energy production and job training will help to put hundreds of thousands of Americans back to work. For middle- and working-class Americans, the very survival of the basic American promise—that with hard work, you can do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and save for retirement—is at stake. The fact is, the economic security of the middle class has eroded for decades.

Like the President, I refuse to accept the notion that the United States must be a place where a chosen few accumulate enormous wealth, while the vast majority of Americans barely scrape by. What have made the United States great are our long-standing guiding principles that everyone deserves a fair shot and everyone plays by the same rules. Long before the recession, good manufacturing jobs began leaving our shores, hurting middle- and working-class Americans and their families. At the State of the Union, the President laid out a thoughtful policy initiative aimed at creating jobs and stimulating economic growth. Rest assured, I will continue to support the President's vision of the U.S. economy in which hard work and responsibility are rewarded – an economy built to last.

Thank you for reading theCarson Courier. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your thoughts and concerns. For more information, visit my website at https://www.carson.house.gov, my Congressional Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CongressmanAndreCarsonand follow me on Twitter @RepAndreCarson. I value your views and your input, which help me better represent the people of Indiana's 7^th District.