Part One
It is tax time again. The 1040 forms are arriving in the mail, people are gathering their records, and dreaded deadlines loom on the horizon. Meanwhile, politicians continue to talk about tax reform.
Dan Hurley for Local 12 Newsmakers reports. Every politician talks about reforming the tax code. Not just this year, not just during the 15 plus years Hurley has been asking questions on Newsmakers, but forever. Sometimes the conversation is cast in terms of tax simplification. Other times, the framework is more complex.
Hurley invited a guest to join him on Newsmakers because they got into a casual conversation a few weeks ago about this topic, and found the questions and issues he raised provocative and intriguing. Dan Fales is a shareholder in the Cincinnati office of Clark Shaeffer Hackett. He is an attorney and CPA, works with private companies, both American and international, on financing and tax implications.
Part Two
Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio is the largest provider of direct resettlement services for refugees in Hamilton County and Southwestern Ohio. Over the past 31 years, more than 11,000 refugees have been resettled in the region under the auspices of Catholic Charities. The number of refugees resettling locally has declined in recent years, only 411 refugees have come through Catholic Charities since 2001, but the agency projects that it will resettle 120 new refugees in hamilton county in 2013.
To discuss the role of refugee resettlement and the work of Catholic Charities in this area, Dan Hurley, Local12 Newsmakers, was joined by Norm Solomon. After a 21 years working as an attorney in private practice, Solomon, began an encore career, first with the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission, and now as director of Refugee Resettlement Services at Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio.
The history of an official refugee resettlement effort date to WWII. Beginning in 1945, nearly 650,000 Europeans were resettled in the United States. It became a regular action in 1948 with the passage of the Displaced Persons Act. During the Cold War, the U.S. accepted refugees from communist countries. The collapse of South Vietnam and the U.S. military efforts in Southeast Asia in 1975 brought a new flood of refugees, which was regularized with the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. Especially from this period, private volunteer agencies have take the lead in resettlement efforts. Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled more than 3 million refugees from around the world; reaching as many as 207,000 in 1980 and dipping to as low as 27,000 in 2002 in the aftermath of 9-11.
To learn more about the refugee program of Catholic Charities, check out the web site at catholiccharitiesswo.org or call 513-241-7745.
