Wildfire survivors appeal to Congress to end federal income tax on settlements, lawyer fees
Western wildfire survivors are calling on Congress to stop playing political football with a bill that would relieve them of federal income taxes on recovery settlements and lawyers fees.
To press their point, they’ve sponsored billboards this month in Idaho and Oregon that directly appeal to the two leaders of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee: Oregon’s senior U.S. senator and committee chair, Democrat Ron Wyden, and Idaho’s U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, the Republican ranking member of the committee.
In response, Wyden agreed at a town hall at David Douglas High School in Portland last Friday to get the federal Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2023 passed by the end of the year and potentially before Thanksgiving, likely as a stand-alone bill. Both senators have attempted to tuck the bill into opposing tax packages for the last five months.
“They have waited long enough,” Wyden said at the town hall. “They have suffered long enough. Life has been uncertain long enough. I’m going to pull out all the stops to get it before the end of the year to them.”
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/11/15/wildfire-survivors-appeal-to-congress-to-end-federal-income-tax-on-settlements-lawyer-fees/