Image credit: Reynaldo Leal/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

August 02, 2023

California’s the only state that fully taxes military pensions. This bill would change that.

By Brandon J. Archuleta

From the Civil War to the global war on terrorism, Californians have a long and proud history of coming to the nation’s defense in times of conflict. Indeed, California is home to more active-duty troops and veterans than any other state in the union. Yet the Golden State is hemorrhaging military retirees, and has been for years, because California is the only state in the Union that fully taxes military pensions.

Californians, like all Americans, have a moral obligation to care for those among us who have served and sacrificed so much for the nation.

With the state’s population declining in recent years, military retirees are an industrious group of citizens that California can ill afford to lose. As a California native and expert on military retirement policy, I believe exempting military pensions from state income taxes is one way to help address this problem.

Read the full article from The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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