Altmire Tax Relief Bills Adopted by Ways and Means Committee

Press Release

Altmire Tax Relief Bills Adopted by Ways and Means Committee

Action will benefit Pennsylvania's soldiers, students, and economy

Today, the House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation that included significant tax relief for Pennsylvanians previously championed by Congressman Jason Altmire (PA-4).

Congressman Altmire introduced three tax bills: the Active Duty Military Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3827), the Classroom Readiness Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3983), and the Brownfield Redevelopment Tax Incentive Act (H.R. 3984). Each called for tax relief to benefit Pennsylvania's soldiers, students, and the economy through permanent extensions of tax provisions scheduled to expire at the end of this year. The Ways and Means Committee included extensions of these provisions in the Temporary Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3996) and the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act (H.R. 3997) passed by the committee this afternoon.

"Pennsylvania's soldiers, students, and economy stand to benefit from today's approval of significant tax relief," said Congressman Altmire. "Our men and women in uniform who are serving their country with honor and distinction are often confronted with transitional issues when called to active duty. This critical tax relief provides them and their families with the financial flexibility that they deserve."

"School teachers often use their own money to buy school supplies and create a positive environment in which our children can learn. We should provide them with an incentive to do so," added Congressman Altmire. "Brownfields, or former industrial sites, in western Pennsylvania must be cleaned up and converted into useable land. Doing so will help create jobs and improve our local economy. I commend the committee for its inclusion of my bills in the overall package."

The following tax provisions pushed by Congressman Altmire were adopted:

* Active Duty Military Provisions - Extensions will allow active duty military personnel to treat combat pay as earned income for the purposes of computing the earned income tax and allow reservists called to active duty to make penalty-free withdrawals from their retirement plans.
* Differential Military Pay Treatment - New provision will allow service members, who receive differential pay from their civilian employer, to contribute those wages to their retirement plan.
* Military Death Gratuities Contributions - New provision will allow family members of soldiers killed in the line of duty to contribute any amount of the military death gratuity ($100,000) into tax-favored accounts, such as Roth IRAs and Education Savings Accounts.
* Brownfield Redevelopment - Extension will help stimulate the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated brownfield sites. The measure will allow developers to fully deduct costs in the year costs were incurred, as opposed to spreading the cost over a period of years.
* Teacher "Out of Pocket" Costs - Extension will allow teachers to deduct up to $250 annually for out-of-pocket expenses, including expenses for books, classroom supplies, computer equipment, and other supplementary materials.
* Computer Donations to Schools - Extension will continue the enhanced deduction for corporate donations of computer equipment to K-12 schools.

The Temporary Tax Relief Act and the HEART Act are expected to be considered on the House floor next week.

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