Senators: Give tax rebates to disabled vetsBy Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 1, 2008 13:54:39 EST
Whether disabled veterans with no taxable income deserve a $500 rebate as part of a bipartisan economic stimulus package is one of the disagreements holding up final passage of the $150 billion plan.
The House of Representatives, which worked out details of the stimulus bill with the White House, would exclude veterans and some low-income elderly people from getting the promised rebates because they have little or no taxable income. Because the rebate is considered a refund on income taxes, those who have not paid have nothing to get back.
The Senate Finance Committee, however, has taken a different approach, specifically adding disabled veterans making $3,000 or more in tax-free veterans’ disability income, as well as some low-income Social Security recipients, into the mix of people eligible for rebates.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the finance committee chairman, said the Department of Veterans Affairs would distribute the rebate checks to disabled veterans under the committee plan.
“No one can question their sacrifice, no one can question their contribution and no one can question that they have earned the right to participate in this rebate program every bit as much as any other American,” Baucus said Thursday.
Rest of article at:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/military_veterans_taxrebate_080201w/