FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 1, 2007 

Contact: Emily Barocas /202-225-7295/202-593-1377

FIREFIGHTER LEGISLATION PASSES COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON – Congressman John Larson’s legislation to protect the tax abatements of firefighters and other first responders took a major leap forward today when it passed the House Ways and Means Committee by an overwhelming majority. We expect the entire House to vote on it in the coming weeks. The legislation is part of a larger package of financial incentives and benefits for our country’s heroes.

The legislation changes the way the IRS considers tax abatements to volunteer first responders in order to protect their benefits from unfair taxation. It was born out of a local community forum where Congressman Larson learned that towns hoping to increase the ranks of their volunteer firefighter departments were being stymied by an IRS ruling that taxed local tax abatements as income.

Local Wethersfield resident John McAuliffe, the Connecticut State Director of the National Volunteer Firefighter’s Council, testified before the committee last month on behalf of volunteer firefighters from all over Connecticut and across the country. McAuliffe said that at a time when this country needs its first responders the most, towns are seeing the number of volunteer firefighters diminishing. 

To combat that, Connecticut passed a law allowing municipalities to offer property tax abatements to anyone willing to volunteer their time and risk their safety to serve as a firefighter. Many Connecticut towns were working to enact such programs when the IRS ruled it would consider the abatements income and they would be taxed as such. The ruling undercut the initiatives and made it harder for towns to recruit and retain firefighters.

Today’s legislation would change that and allow our country’s heroes to keep the benefits they are owed.

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