Utahns urged to aid homeless at tax time

This tax season, state officials and homeless advocates are hoping you'll give up just a little of your refund for a good cause.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and community advocate Pamela Atkinson on Wednesday kicked off a campaign urging Utahns to give to the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Tax Fund when filing their taxes this year.

"Homelessness can be solved," Huntsman said at the campaign launch at the Salt Lake City YWCA. "By rallying together as good citizens in and out of government, we can do something about it."

The fund finances several programs in the state to prevent homelessness and help those who have become homeless. Programs include the Road Home shelter, housing programs to help the homeless get back on their feet and other services.

Utah tax forms offer the option, on Line 21A, to donate to the fund. Such donations have decreased from $114,350 in 1997 to $69,000 in 2004, according to a news release from the Utah Department of Community and Culture.

If every Utahn gave as little as $2 at tax time, Atkinson said, it would make a dramatic difference for the people living on the street or in homeless shelters.