HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, October 21, 1999
1999 Ron Paul 110:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing
the Public Safety Tax Cut Act. This
legislation will achieve two important public
policy goals.
1999 Ron Paul 110:2 First, it will effectively overturn a ruling of
the Internal Revenue Service which has declared
as taxable income the waiving of fees
by local governments who provide service for
public safety volunteers.
1999 Ron Paul 110:3 Many local governments use volunteer firefighters
and auxiliary police either in place of,
or as a supplement to, their public safety professionals.
Often as an incentive to would-be
volunteers, the local entities might waive all or
a portion of the fees typically charged for city
services such as the provision of drinking
water, sewerage charges, or debris pick up.
Local entities make these decisions for the
purpose of encouraging folks to volunteer, and
seldom do these benefits come anywhere
near the level of a true compensation for the
many hours of training and service required of
the volunteers. This, of course, not even to
mention the fact that these volunteers could
very possibly be called into a situation where
they may have to put their lives on the line.
1999 Ron Paul 110:4 Rather than encouraging this type of volunteerism,
which is so crucial, particularly to
America’s rural communities, the IRS has decided
that the provision of the benefits described
above amount to taxable income. Not
only does this adversely affect the financial
position of the volunteer by foisting new taxes
about him or her, it has in fact led local entities
to stop providing these benefits, thus taking
away a key tool they have used to recruit
volunteers. That is why the IRS ruling in this
instance has a substantial deleterious impact
on the spirit of American volunteerism. How
far could this go? For example, would consistent
application mean that a local Salvation
Army volunteer be taxed for the value of a
complimentary ticket to that organization’s annual
county dinner? This is obviously bad policy.
1999 Ron Paul 110:5 This legislation would rectify this situation by
specifically exempting these types of benefits
from federal taxation.
1999 Ron Paul 110:6 Next, this legislation would also provide paid
professional police and fire officers with a
$1,000 per year tax credit. These professional
public safety officers put their lives on the line
each and every day, and I think we all agree
that there is no way to properly compensate
them for the fabulous services they provide. In
America we have a tradition of local law enforcement
and public safety provision. So,
while it is not the role of our federal government
to increase the salaries of these, it certainly
is within our authority to increase their
take-home pay by reducing the amount of
money that we take from their pockets via federal
taxation, and that is something this bill
specifically does as well.
1999 Ron Paul 110:7 Mr. Speaker I am proud to introduce the
Public Safety Tax Cut Act, and I request that
my fellow Members join in support of this key
legislation.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 110:4
the provision of the benefits described above amount to taxable income
probably should be
the provision of the benefits described above amounts to taxable income.
