WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey (D-Westchester/Rockland) announced today that months of Republican opposition to ending the military widows’ tax have finally ended.  Hundreds of thousands of military retirees’ families will be able to keep the benefits they have earned.

“Our troops should be taken care of when we send them into battle and when we bring them home,” said Lowey.  “The families of our men and women in uniform make sacrifices, too. 
With bipartisan support on the House Armed Services Committee to end the widows’ tax, military retirees and their spouses are one step closer to keeping the benefits they have earned serving our country.” 

According to Lowey, the “Survivor Benefit Penalty” would have penalized over 200,000 elderly Americans, mostly widows, over the next 10 years, and ultimately hundreds of thousands of Americans.  Over one million military retirees pay premiums for years and anticipate that upon their death, their spouses will receive 55 percent of their retirement benefit.  However, when their spouses reach age 62, the benefit would have dropped to a mere 35 percent, forcing these widows to give up more than one-third of their benefits.

Republicans had been holding up legislation to end the military widows’ tax.  Democrats recently began a petition to bring the Military Survivor Benefits Improvement Act (HR 548) to a vote to end the tax.  With the signatures of 201 Democrats in Congress, Republicans caved and agreed on Wednesday, May 12, 2004m to include the measure in the Defense Authorization Bill (HR 4200), which was considered by the House Armed Services Committee.

These new provisions would begin to reduce the penalty in the fall of 2005 and completely end it over five years.  With a unanimous vote in the House Armed Services Committee, families of military retirees will be able to sleep easier knowing that Congress is working to protect their benefits.

“Ending the military widows’ tax is a win for all families of military retirees,” said Lowey.  “Wednesday’s bipartisan decision shows that Congress can put soldiers and veterans above partisan politics.  I will continue to watch closely to make sure that the military widows’ tax does end.”