WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), and 28 other bipartisan Senators today introduced legislation providing tax relief for children receiving benefits who have lost a parent serving in the military.
Simplification of a special tax dating back to 1986 that was intended to stop wealthy parents from sheltering income by shifting it to their children with lower tax rates inadvertently caused higher taxes on military survivor benefits. This bipartisan legislation effectively removes these benefits from the special 1986 tax, resolving the unintended tax treatment of survivor benefits.
U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Richard Burr (R-NC), Bob Casey (D-PA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Mike Crapo (R-ID), John Cornyn (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Steve Daines (R-MT), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Angus King (I-ME), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Patty Murray (D-WA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Tim Scott (R-SC), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Jon Tester (D-MT), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) are also cosponsors of the legislation.
“This bipartisan legislation helps those who lost a husband or wife, a father or mother, serving in the military to protect us. This legislation fixes an unintended problem and lessens the taxes of the surviving spouse,” said Dr. Cassidy. “The Tax Cut and Jobs act has helped millions. I thankDemocratic colleagues for joining to improve the law and ensure more Americans benefit.”
“Historically, after major tax legislation, the long-standing practice has been to correct drafting errors and other technical issues on a bipartisan basis. I appreciate my Democratic colleagues who are working with Republicans to correct this problem. The families of military heroes who gave their lives serving their country shouldn’t be penalized by an unintended effect of tax reform,” said Senator Grassley, chairman of Senate Finance Committee.
