Peoples Income Tax Wins Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Marketplace Integrity
RICHMOND - Peoples Income Tax Inc. is a winner of the 1999 Torch Award for Marketplace Integrity. Issued by the Better Business Bureau of Central Virginia, the Torch award recognizes area companies that maintain a solid commitment to conducting their business practices in an ethical fashion.
Chuck McCabe, chief executive officer of Peoples Income Tax, said, “It is fitting and we are honored to have been recognized with this award because it represents a commitment to the same principle on which our company was founded: People.”
An outside panel of judges evaluates Torch award nominees on ethical behavior in several areas. These include the company’s relationships with customers, employees and suppliers; sales and marketing; community service; and programs that support employees in carrying out established ethics policies. “A Torch company does things right and honestly,” said Thomas Gallagher, president of the Better Business Bureau, “and they do it even if no one is watching because that’s their corporate culture.”
For McCabe, an important tenet of marketplace integrity is the willingness to see profit as the byproduct, not the purpose of a business. “Social contribution is the reason for a good business to exist,” he says. Among other outreach, for the fifth consecutive tax season, Peoples will provide free and discounted tax returns to recipients of the Greater Richmond Employment Assistance Team (GREAT). Peoples associates also provide free income tax return service to residents of area homeless shelters and the Flagler Home, a shelter for women and children at St. Joseph’s Villa.
Once a high school drop-out, McCabe founded Peoples Income Tax in 1987, after a 20-year career with H & R Block. Peoples provides income tax preparation and small business accounting services through more than a dozen offices in Richmond, Colonial Heights and Fredericksburg. The industry trade publication “E-Filing Today” and The Income Tax School are divisions of Peoples Income Tax.
Editor’s Note: Four Torch awards are given annually based on company size. Temporary staffing companies Interim Personnel of Richmond Inc. and Judith Fox Staffing Cos., along with public relations firm Carter Ryley Thomas Inc. also received the BBB’s recognition for ethical business practices.