Benjamin Gilman: “today I will be introducing a bill that is aimed at benefiting our Nation's police officers and firefighters. My bill…”

“today I will be introducing a bill that is aimed at benefiting our Nation's police officers and firefighters. My bill will rescind the dollar limitation on police and firefighter benefit laws allowing these employees to collect the money that they have rightfully earned by contributing to their benefit fund, to their pension fund. Currently, under section 415 of the Tax Code, police officers and firefighters are not eligible to collect the funds that they have earned and instead are required to retire with benefits generally based on the percentage of their highest 3-year salary average. Regrettably the average in most instances does not exceed 65 or 75 percent. Thus many officers living along the east coast or in large metropolitan and surrounding suburban areas throughout our Nation are forced to work past their general retirement age in order to afford the high cost of living in these areas. This bill will not initiate a tax revenue loss. In fact, under my bill, we would gain Federal revenues due to the disbursement of previously uncollected funds to retirees. I invite my colleagues to support this measure. Let us be fair to those who day in and day out place their lives on the line for our protection.”