Finance leaders offer tax break for hiring veterans

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday introduced legislation granting employers a streamlined $6,000 tax credit for hiring recently discharged veterans. 

The bill eliminates the administrative burdens that make the current Work Opportunity Tax Credit directed toward unemployed vets difficult for some small businesses to use. 

"This tax cut will help create new job opportunities for veterans by giving employers incentives to do the right thing and offer our veterans a job," Baucus said in prepared remarks. 

Under the bill, veterans who have been recently discharged will be able to provide documentation from the Department of Defense without having to go through the tax credit's current certification process. Those that have discharge paperwork showing 180 days of qualified active duty are eligible for the credit. National Guard members activated by their states also qualify. The bill also requires the military to educate service members on how employers may qualify for the tax credit.  

The unemployment rate for veterans since September 2001 has exceeded that of civilians, with 14.7 percent of post-Sept. 11 veterans being unemployed.

"These men and women are extremely capable," Grassley said in prepared remarks. "They have a lot of skills to offer the workplace. This legislation will clear some bureaucratic hurdles and add a financial incentive to encourage employers to seek out veterans."