Combat zoneProposed bill would extend tax exemption to civilians in combat zones
A bipartisan bill introduced in May would extend the same tax credit available to military personnel serving overseas to civilian federal employees serving in combat zones. Most civilians working abroad in combat zones are employees of the Defense and State departments, the intelligence community, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
A bipartisan bill introduced in May would extend the same tax credit available to military personnel serving overseas to civilian federal employees serving in combat zones. The Combat Zone Tax Parity Act (H.R. 4621), introduced by Representatives Rob Wittman (R-Virginia), Frank R. Wolf (R-Virginia), and Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), has not made it out of the House Committee on Ways and Means, but it is gaining support among some federal employers. Defense One notes that most civilians working abroad in combat zones are employees of the Defense and State departments, the intelligence community, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
On 27 July 2006, Wolf introduced a similar bill, the Federal Employee Combat Zone Tax Parity Act, citing a letter from a constituent who at the time was stationed in Afghanistan. “I am completing a one year tour with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Kabul, Afghanistan,” the constituent said. “I work with the U.S. military and I live in the same residences with the U.S. military. During the riots on Memorial Day, I listened to the same gunfire as the U.S. military and I wore the same 30 pounds of Individual Body Armor and the Kevlar Helmet as the U.S. military.” Wolf added that “it is only equitable that both military and civilian employees who are serving side by side receive the same tax treatment.”
Under the current combat zone tax credit, an enlisted service member’s pay for time in combat is exempt from federal income taxes, and commissioned officers’ pay excluded from federal income tax is capped at the highest enlisted pay level, in addition to any hostile or imminent danger pay received.
“Many of our dedicated civil servants answer a ‘call to duty’ that takes them away from their families and exposes them to imminent danger to life and limb,” said National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) president Joseph A. Beaudoin. “They may not wear uniforms, but they often stand shoulder to shoulder amidst hostile fire with those who do,” Beaudoin said.
