‘Respect our warriors’: House GOP veteran proposes key benefit to aid deployed service members

EXCLUSIVE: An Army veteran and House Foreign Affairs member on Thursday introduced a bill to eliminate taxes for all U.S. service members deployed overseas. 

Rep. Warren Davidson’s, R-Ohio, bill, the BRAVE Act, would amend the IRS code to expand that exemption to include not just designated combat zones, but all non-permanently deployed service members operating abroad. Currently, those deployed to combat zones do not pay taxes on their salary. 

“When our soldiers deploy for combat, they don’t pay taxes. When they deploy around the world to promote peace and deter war, they pay taxes. The Brave Act makes it clear: reward both of these deployments—respect our warriors,” Davidson said. 

Combat zones where service members’ pay is tax-exempt are decided on an ad hoc basis by executive order. Currently, roughly a dozen countries and regions qualify as such, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Somali and the Sinai.

US, IRAQI OFFICIALS NEARING PLAN TO REMOVE US TROOPS AS SOON AS NEXT YEAR 

U.S. Army Spc. Johnny Pagan, an infantryman with the New York National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment, and a native of Manhattan, controls a soldier-borne sensor unmanned aerial vehicle. (U.S. Army photo by Master Sgt. Warren W. Wright Jr.)

However, U.S. service members are

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