House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanked the Association of the United States Navy by name for their support of a bill that would aim to remove a tax that severely impacts Gold Star Families during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, which AUSN attended.
The so-called “kiddie tax,” an unintended part of the 2017 tax law, raised taxes on military survivor benefits received by children, often saddling Gold Star Families with thousands of dollars in additional taxes each year.
The Senate passed a measure repealing the tax by unanimous consent earlier this week, and the House is expected to do the same.
The Senate bill fixes the issue by treating military survivor benefits as earned rather than unearned income, and the provisions would take effect retroactively, preventing Gold Star Families from having to pay the sky-high tax bills they received.
“Tomorrow, the House will pass a bipartisan, urgently-needed fix,” Speaker Pelosi said. “We simply cannot stand by and these families sacrifice again, twice.”
Here is a transcript from Pelosi’s introductory remarks:
“As our friends are coming in, let me welcome our friends from the American Legion, the Association of the United States Army, the Association of the United States Navy, our Gold Star Wives – our stars today – our Iraq and Afghan Veterans of America, Military Officers Association of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Military Family Association, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Special Ops Survivors, Tragedy Assistance Program For Survivors, Veterans and Military Families for Progress, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Vets of America, Wounded Warrior Project, Federal Bar Association. Thank you all very much for being here and making this very special day possible.
“I thought I would have a little tempo of the grassroots right here in the leadership of our veterans and military service organizations. Thank you so much.”
