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Miller announces an end to widows' tax
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By Tom McLaughlin
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Northwest Florida Daily News, October 9th, 2004
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An estimated 250,000 spouses of American veterans, including 25,000 in Florida, will benefit from elimination of a "widow’s tax" that for years has drastically reduced annuities provided through the Survivor Benefits Plan, U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller said.
With a congressional conference committee’s Friday passage of a bill authorizing defense spending for 2005, the first steps were taken toward ensuring the U.S. Department of Defense will phase out a controversial provision in its Survivor Benefits Plan insurance program.
The wording of the plan, established in 1972, creates a "Social Security offset" that drops annuities for enrolled surviving spouses from 55 percent to 35 percent when they reach the age of 62.
A bill sponsored by Miller and included in the spending package will eliminate the offset.
Miller, who represents Florida’s District 1, applauded the end of the "widow’s tax," whose ultimate demise he also helped hurry along through an amendment that reduces the phaseout period from 10 years to three-and-ahalf.
"It’s a great day for the survivors of military retirees," Miller, R-Chumuckla, said. "This was a big win for survivors, and future survivors, of our military retirees."
As House leaders celebrated passage of the $447.2 billion spending package, known as the 2005 Defense Authorization Bill, Miller was hailed as "the godfather of the Survivor Benefits Plan" by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
"He’s the guy who had the initial bill on this thing and guided it through the House and Senate and got it passed today," Hunter, R-California, told the Daily News on Friday.
Miller’s efforts to tweak the bill continued right up until its passage. He recently secured signatures from 208 fellow House members urging support for a faster phaseout of the Social Security Offset than the 10 years originally proposed.
The amendment, titled the Survivor Benefits Plan Improvement Act, called for phasing out the offset within 3.5 years.
The conference committee, composed of members of both the U.S. House and Senate, voted to accept the Miller amendment before passing the appropriations bill Friday.
News that changes to the Survivor Benefits Plan had passed, and that the phaseout period for the Social Security offset had been significantly shortened, was welcomed by local veterans.
"It’s good news for all the widows out there struggling. It’s a plus and a thing we’ve all fought for," said Bill Byerly, a Shalimar resident and regional vice president of the Military Officers Association of America. "This is a positive step toward taking care of the troops."
Miller and other bill sponsors were able to overcome initial opposition from the Department of Defense, which funds the insurance plan.
"The discussion was, ‘Should money go for the war fighters as opposed to money for survivors?’ " Miller said. "Ultimately, we won with the argument that survivors are due the full benefits, as was established when SBP was enacted."
The total cost of reinstating the full funding will be about $2 billion over 10 years, Miller said. But he argued that those funds are not all coming out of the Department of Defense budget.
"An active-duty person enrolled in the plan is paying a premium. This is not all government-funded," he said.
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