Conn. FDs Lobby to Restore Tax Breaks for Volunteers

Oct. 17, 2012
State lawmakers are working to restore the tax breaks that expired in 2010.

SOUTHINGTON, Conn. -- Congress is working to restore tax breaks that expired in 2010 for volunteer firefighters and ambulance crews, Sen. Richard Blumenthal told a crowd of firefighters Tuesday.

"Most towns in Connecticut and the country rely on volunteers who have professional training and put their lives on the line when they respond," Blumenthal said. "The federal government should not burden them" by resuming taxes on the small incomes that had been exempt from federal taxation.

There are an estimated 22,000 volunteer firefighters in the state. Many towns only have volunteers, but some towns and cities, such as Southington, Naugatuck and Danbury, have a combination of a small core of paid firefighters and a much larger group of volunteers.

Harold Clark, the fire chief in Southington whose letter to Blumenthal about restoring the expired exemptions drew the senator for a visit, said it's wrong to resume taxes on the $8 per fire call stipend Southington pays its volunteers

"Their stipend is below minimum wage," he said.

Until the law expired in 2010 without being renewed, public safety volunteers nationwide were exempt from paying federal tax on the minimal stipends -- about $1,000 a year nationwide for most volunteers. The payments are mainly paid per-call, and the small amounts some communities put into modest retirement accounts for their volunteers.

Blumenthal, a cosponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said he hopes it will pass this year. He's convinced it's not a question of if, but when it passes, as the renewal of the exemption will benefit all states.

He gave no figure for the amount of tax revenue the federal treasury would lose by ending the tax, but he described it as "minuscule, not even a rounding error."

Fire officials at the meeting said it's difficult to attract volunteer firefighters and the resumption of taxing their small stipends is another impediment in retaining volunteers.

Fritz Hilbert, the fire chief of the all-volunteer Mystic department, said the resumption of the tax "places an unnecessary burden on volunteers. It just isn't fair."

Robert Guthrie, a lieutenant in the West Haven Fire Department, which has a combination of volunteers and full-time firefighters, said departments would get a recruitment boost if the tax exemptions are restored.

"It's one tool we had to attract and retain volunteers," said Guthrie, also the Connecticut chapter member of the National Volunteer Fire Council. West Haven averages about 11,000 calls a year and it's harder to get sufficient volunteer response to daytime calls.

Guthrie said restoring the exemptions will help improve volunteer recruitment.

"True, it's not a lot of money but it's the right thing to do," he said.

Copyright 2012 - The Hartford Courant

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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