Hoyer Hosts IRS Workshop with Fifth District Faith-Based Community

WALDORF, MD – This morning, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) spoke at a workshop that brought together representatives from the IRS and Fifth District Faith-Based community to help the organizations better understand how they can utilize the tax system to ensure that they have every resource available as they prepare their 2011 taxes. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:

"Good morning, and welcome. I am proud to be co-hosting this workshop, which I hope will be helpful to you as you prepare to file your taxes for 2011. 

"Since the earliest days of our country, churches and other faith-based organizations have formed the backbone of charitable works in our communities. Whether through feeding the hungry at soup kitchens and finding warm beds for the homeless at shelters to counseling families through times of crisis, faith-based groups provide comfort and hope to millions.

"The work you have been doing here in Maryland is invaluable and fulfills a real need in our communities. The economic recession that we've experienced over the past few years has made it even more important to ensure that the work you do can keep families out of poverty, extend a caring hand to the "least of these" in their time of despair, and provide people with hope for a better future. 

"I was in Selma, Alabama, recently to mark the anniversary of the 1965 March for Voting Rights. One of those who joined in the march from Selma to Montgomery was a clergyman who said: ‘At Selma, my feet were praying.'

"Through the work you do in our communities every day, your hands and feet and open hearts are truly divine instruments. 

"The federal government has long recognized the important role you play, and this is reflected in our tax code. I hope today you will leave here with a stronger sense of how you can best use the tax system to make sure you have every resource you need to keep doing the good works you do and to expand on them."