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The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) is a non-profit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, EMS and rescue services. The NVFC serves as the information source regarding legislation, standards and regulatory issues.

(ORIGINALLY PRINTED JANUARY 2008)

House Passes Tax Relief For Volunteer Firefighters and EMS Personnel

On November 6, 2007 the United States House of Representatives passed the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act, which excludes from taxable income all property tax benefits and up to $360 per year of any other benefit paid to volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel by state and local units of government.  According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, passage of the HEART Act (H.R. 3997) will result in $994 million in tax savings for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel over the next 10 years.

Volunteer firefighters save American taxpayers more than $37.2 billion every year.  Unfortunately, statistics show that the number of volunteer firefighters in the country have decreased over the last 20 years even as the average age of volunteer firefighters has gone up.  Many communities have discovered that providing benefits to their volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel has a positive impact on retention and recruitment.  Taxation of these benefits by the federal government reduces their value as an incentive to the volunteer and creates a significant administrative burden on small municipalities and townships. 

On October 17, 2007 National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) Connecticut State Director John McAuliffe testified before the House Ways and Means Committee about the need to prohibit the federal taxation of benefits for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel.  Since then, the NVFC worked closely with other organizations and members of the Ways and Means Committee to ensure that language providing tax relief to volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel was included in the HEART Act, which also includes various provisions regarding taxation of military income.  On November 5, the NVFC, along with three other national organizations, sent a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Committee expressing support for passage of the HEART Act.

H.R. 3997 now goes to the Senate, where it will be considered by the Committee on Finance.  The NVFC urges its members to contact their Senators and ask that they support passage of the HEART Act.

 

Visit the following website to learn more about current national volunteer legislative issues:  http://www.nvfc.org/issues.html