We need your help on a billย going through the California State legislature that aims to exempt Military Retirees and Surviving Spouse payments from state income tax: AB46 (introduced by Ramos, Mathis, and Soria)
California is the only state in the country that does not provide some form of tax relief for its military retirees.
Despite having the largest number of assigned active-duty military of any state, California only ranks fourth in the number of military retirees who call California home. California continues to lose military retirees to other states at an accelerated rate. Military retirees who do remain in California provide an available workforce to fill many of the 40,000 technical and over 20,000 medical field vacancies in California. These jobs include software engineering, cybersecurity, aerospace, systems engineering, artificial intelligence, biochemistry, physicians, nurses and management level positions. It is anticipated the need for these skilled workers will grow by 2% a year. ย Additionally, many military retirees, surviving spouses and children will use their federal GI Bill educational benefits to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and medical occupations providing much needed help to California’s workforce.
According to a study conducted for the governor’s military council, the defense industry contributed $168 billion dollars to California’s economy in 2021, 5% of the state’s budget. ย The Department of Defense estimates that military retirees bring a $4.1 billion dollar annual inflation- protection stream of federal funds to California’s economy each year.
It is time for California to join the other 49 states and recognize the value military retirees bring to the state they retire in.
Solution: AB 46 recognizes members of the Armed Forces and their contribution to our nation and seeks to exempt their retirement pay once they retire after twenty or more years of service. This bill sunsets in 2034.
The purpose of the bill is twofold; to honor those who dedicated their lives to serving their country, and to retain and attract uniformed service retirees to California for the purposes of strengthening the stateโs skilled workforce, bringing stability to communities, and contributing to the state and local tax base.
Will you please take a few minutes to send a letter to your state Assemblymember today?
Please help us tell the Assembly that the veteransโ community strongly supports AB 46 and supports those who served in the uniformed services.ย Use our simple, fast online letter-writing tool to send a letter to your Assemblymember today.
Thank you for your support!
