New York City’s Reservists Are Asked to Return Iraq Pay
Posted in H.L. News, Main Blog (All Posts) on September 25th, 2006 9:53 am by HL
The Soldier gets screwed once again. He went out there and fought the war, survived, and now he’s home its time to pay up for your little vacation in Iraq.
New York City’s Reservists Are Asked to Return Iraq Pay
NY Times
Excerpt:
When they were called up for military service in the wake of 9/11, hundreds of uniformed city workers in the Reserves faced the suspension of their city health and pension benefits. The city offered them an option: it would keep paying their salaries and continue their benefits, but when they returned they would have to repay the city their city salary or their military pay, whichever was less.
Now the bills from the city are coming due, for far more than many veterans imagined they would have to pay — as much as $200,000 — and often for more money than they ever received.
The city is demanding that the veterans repay their gross salaries, even though they never saw about a third of the money, which went for taxes and other deductions. The commissioner of administrative services, Martha K. Hirst, said veterans should be able to get back the difference between gross and take-home pay by amending their tax returns. But several tax accountants said the city had created an accounting quagmire.
David Gitel, a tax accountant in Manhattan, said that if the employees paid the money back over several years — which many will have to do — rather than in a lump sum, they could lose thousands of dollars in income-tax and social security payments.
H.L.s Take: So they have to repay the money that was taken out in taxes, this way the Federal Government gets to collect twice from guys who risked their taxes.
Want to get screwed, I know a sure way, 2 ways actually. 1. Join the Military, 2. Do business with Bush.
