Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Sun City Community Assistance Network was the busiest income tax center during the past tax season.
Four locations in the Northwest Valley host the AARP Tax-Aide program through April 15 annually. They include the Peoria Community Center, 8335 W. Jefferson St., Peoria; the Westbrook Village Community Center, 19251 N. Westbrook Parkway, Peoria; the Sun City West Foundation, 14465 R.H. Johnson Blvd.; and the Sun City CAN, 10195 W. Coggins Drive.
Jim Graff, a Sun City CAN volunteer, oversees the four locations.
He said the CAN location processed 1,967 federal tax returns with an average adjusted gross income of $29,687. Total refunds claimed was $1.3 million and the total taxes paid was $835,464.
Federal returns processed in Sun City West was 1,408 with an adjusted gross income average of $43,999. Sun City West taxpayers who had their returns done at the Foundation claimed $369,113 in refunds and paid $180,326 in taxes.
The Westbrook Village volunteers filed 386 federal returns that averaged $43,999 in adjusted gross income. Total refunds claimed was $369,113 and taxes paid was $180,326.
At the Peoria Community Center, 315 federal returns were processed with an average adjusted gross income of $29,549. Returns at this location saw refunds totaling $290,627 and taxes paid of $108,049.
Tax returns are processed by a corps of volunteers who undergo training every January to become familiar with the new tax codes, according to Graff. While the current tax season just ended, the program in all four locations could always use more volunteers, he added.
Residents interested in serving as a Tax-Aide volunteer can contact Graff at Sun City CAN at 623-933-7530.
Rusty Bradshaw News Editor | Sun City &
Sun City West @SunCitiesEditor
Rusty Bradshaw is a 40-year veteran of community journalism, having worked at newspapers in Wyoming, Oregon and Arizona. He has been with Independent Newsmedia 15 years.
Rusty earned a junior college certificate from Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming and a bachelor of science degree from Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande Oregon.
An avid football fan, Rusty also enjoys photography, reading, spending time outdoors and enjoying life with his wife. He also authored three books of fiction, “The Rehabilitation of Miss Little,” “Moist on the Mountain” and "Gorge Justice." Visit www.rustythewriter.org.
By 
