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Military retirees, yes; civilian retirees, no

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

For more of your opinions, see Gazette.Net/Letters.

Dick Strombotne, Gaithersburg

The writer is president of the Maryland Federation of Chapters, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.

In the final days of the General Assembly, House and Senate conferees gutted a Senate bill of provisions that would have given a $110 tax cut to age 65-plus taxpayers, their elderly spouses and to blind persons in Maryland. The bill that passed, Senate Bill 22, gives an income tax break only to military retirees, nothing to civilian retirees.

When it was initially passed by the Senate, in addition to the help for military retirees, it would have increased to $2,400 the special income tax exemption for elderly taxpayers and blind persons. Currently, the special exemption is $1,000. The additional $1,400 exemption would have meant a state tax reduction of $66.50 and a local tax reduction of $42 or so.

For military retirees, the bill increases the pension exclusion amount from $2,500 to $5,000, a tax benefit worth about $194. I don’t begrudge the tax relief for military retirees. My question is why are civilian retirees considered less worthy of tax relief when they see the same kinds of increases in the costs of home heating and cooling, property taxes, transportation and gasoline, and of medical care, prescription drugs and health insurance as military retirees? Both groups have to make do on fixed incomes.

If this result concerns you, ask the conferees why civilian retirees were disrespected and disregarded. For the Senate, the conferees were Ulysses Currie, Edward J. Kasemeyer, and Donald F. Munson. For the House of Delegates, the conferees were Sheila Ellis Hixson, Jon S. Cardin and Jean B. Cryor.