Legislators plan to extend a tax break to Iowans who’re being called up to serve in the Guard or Reserve. House Speaker Christopher Rants of Sioux City says as more and more Iowans join the active duty ranks, most at a financial sacrifice because they’re leaving full-time jobs, legislators decided to do something to help. Lawmakers will pass a bill that says Iowans called to active duty won’t have to pay state income taxes on their military salary which averages about 18-thousand dollars a year. The tax exemption would apply only while the Guard or Reserve member is on active duty. Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows says when he was in the Marine Corps in the 1970s, he didn’t pay state taxes on his military pay. The state of Iowa made a similar move for citizen-soldiers who served during Desert Storm, saving Iowa Guard and Reserve members almost one-and-a-half million dollars in state taxes. The state extended the same break to citizen-soldiers who served in Bosnia in the mid-90s, and saved those soldiers about 100-thousand dollars.
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