SCHAKOWSKY CALLS FOR AN END TO 'DISABLED VETERANS TAX'

Park Ridge News - 11/13/03

U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (9th) joined leaders of veterans' organizations at the Park Ridge Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) to call for an end to the "Disabled Veterans Tax."

During a news conference at the Park Ridge VFW, on the corner of Higgins and Canfield, Schakowsky released an Illinois-wide study, which concluded that more than 7,000 disabled veterans in the state are being denied their full benefits because of the "Disabled Veterans Tax." According to Schakowsky, under current law, veterans who have served for 20 years or more and retire with a service-related disability cannot receive their full military pension. Their pension is reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis by the amount they receive in disability compensation. In other words, disability compensation is taxed at a rate of 100 percent.

"Disabled veterans lose precious dollars each month because of the Disabled Veterans Tax," said Schakowsky. "Many of those disabled veterans are on fixed incomes and they desperately need every dollar to keep the lights on, the heat running, the prescriptions filled or the rent paid on time. We must end the Disabled Veterans Tax - it is unfair, unjust and unpatriotic,"

Schakowsky called for the immediate passage of H.R. 303, a bipartisan bill with more than 370 cosponsors that would immediately restore benefits to the 7,048 disabled veterans in Illinois and the more than 560,000 nationwide.