HEART Act gives troops tax breaks totaling $2 billion

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HEART Act gives troops tax breaks totaling $2 billion
By Bryce S. Dubee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, June 15, 2008

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Two billion dollars. That’s the size of the tax breaks that would be given to servicemembers and their families in a bill awaiting signature on the president’s desk.

The Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act, which Congress passed unanimously on May 22, introduces a number of tax benefits for servicemembers as well as extends or makes permanent several expiring benefits.

One major provision of the act allows servicemembers married to foreign nationals to claim the 2007 economic stimulus credit on a joint tax return even if the spouse doesn’t have a Social Security number.

"This bill is called the HEART Act, but I would prefer to call it the thank-you bill — thank you to the tens of thousands of American men and women who have responded to America’s call to fight this war and place themselves in harm’s way to serve this nation," House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., said in a recent news release.

The credit provides $600 for each spouse and $300 for each dependent.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55554