Military Officer - January 2006 - (Page 36)

washingtonscene moved up to Oct. 1, 2005, as proposed by the Senate. Those who enrolled when SBP was ﬁrst signed into law will have to pay premiums for up to 36 years before being granted relief, whereas later enrollees will have a 30-year cutoff. The effective date must be changed to provide equity for the participants who have paid the greatest amount of premiums for SBP. against COLA caps proposed as part of some Social Security reform efforts. We will exert every effort to preserve the Congress’ stated intent “to provide every military retired member the same purchasing power of the retired pay to which he was entitled at the time of retirement [and ensure it is] not, at any time in the future eroded by subsequent increases in consumer prices.” Concurrent receipt MOAA is committed to winning full concurrent receipt of military retired pay and VA disability compensation. The FY 2005 Defense Authorization Act provided immediate concurrent receipt for retirees rated 100 percent disabled, rather than making them wait 10 years to get their full retired pay back, as under previous law. MOAA supports Senate-passed legislation to include those retirees paid at the 100 percent disability rate due to being rated “unemployable” by the VA. For the longer term, MOAA seeks expanded and accelerated restoration of earned retired pay for all disabled retirees. MOAA particularly supports concurrent receipt eligibility for medical (Chapter 61) retirees who were prevented from serving 20 years solely because they became severely disabled in service. Members whose careers were cut short by combat and operational injuries in Iraq, Afghanistan, and earlier conﬂicts deserve treatment equal to those who happened to incur their wounds after completing 20 years of service. MOAA will closely monitor the Veterans’ Disability Beneﬁts Commission’s ongoing study of the VA disability system and take all possible steps to ensure a fair and unbiased process that protects the interests of disabled veterans. Disability tax refund MOAA supports repeal of the three-year statute of limitations on ﬁling amended federal income tax returns to recover taxes improperly levied because of VA delays in disability claim processing. The VA sometimes takes many years to reach a ﬁnal disability ruling, and affected members must ﬁle amended tax returns to recover income taxes on retired pay that should have been deemed tax-free disability compensation. Current law precludes ﬁling amended returns for more than three tax years, which causes thousands of disabled retirees to be taxed unfairly simply because of VA claims-processing errors or delays. Stay Informed: Protect Your Interests ■ If you have access to e-mail and don’t already receive MOAA’s weekly Legislative Update, we strongly suggest subscribing to stay informed and participate in our calls to action (see page 31). USFSPA equity MOAA will strive to reform the unfair provisions of the Uniformed Services Former Spouse Protection Act (USFSPA). Eligibility for award of lifetime retired pay should be the same for former spouses as for servicemembers — 20 years of marriage during military service, with annual payments limited to the number of years of marriage during military service for former spouses who don’t attain that standard. Divisible retired pay should be based on the member’s grade and years of service at the time of the divorce rather than at the time of the member’s retirement from service. State courts should be barred from requiring payments to start before the member retires from active duty and barred from dividing VA disability compensation, COLA commitments MOAA will work to ensure continued fulﬁllment of congressional intent concerning retired pay COLAs, including protecting 36 MILITARY OFFICER JANUARY 2006

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - January 2006

Contents Features Departments From the Editor Chairman's Page Board of Directors Nominations Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Member Books Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: On the Edge Storm Stories Our Brilliant, Bloody Future eXtreme Seniors Pages of History Information Exchange MOAA Scholarship Donors Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - January 2006

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