Armed Forces News

Combat veterans who were charged income tax on severance pay they received from the Defense Department are due to get that money back. President Obama signed into law Dec. 19 a measure that orders the Pentagon to identify those veterans – who were separated from service due to combat-related injuries, and then wrongly forced to pay income tax on their severance pay. The National Veterans Legal Service Project, which fought for the law said on its web site that more than 13,800 veterans may be due as much as $78 million. Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Mark Warner, D-Va., sponsored the measure in the Senate, which passed unanimously on Dec. 10. Rep. David Rouzer, R-NC, sponsored the House’s version of the bill, which cleared the chamber on Dec. 5.