Hey I just recieved this e-mail from my Chief. As a Volunteer Firefighter I'm pretty happy about this but I'm curious as to what you tax payin people think about it.....anyone oppose it??

just curious thx for your input.

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Legislation Introduced to Provide a Tax Credit for Volunteer Fire and
EMS Personnel

WASHINGTON, DC - The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) has
announced the introduction of legislation in both the U.S. House and
Senate that would provide a $1,000 annual tax credit for active members
of volunteer fire and EMS organizations. The Supporting Emergency
Responders Volunteer Efforts (SERVE) Act was introduced by Rep. Maurice
Hinchey (D-NY) in the House and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in the Senate.

"A $1,000 tax credit for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel will
serve as an important recruitment tool for local companies that often
have a difficult time getting people to sign up for volunteer service,"
Hinchey said. "By providing a $1,000 tax credit that will make paying
the bills easier, we will help encourage more community members to
become volunteer firefighters and EMS providers. This $1,000 tax credit
will also serve as a small token of our enormous appreciation for the
risks our local firefighters and EMS providers take each day to protect
us and our families."

These volunteers have their own jobs and families, yet they take time
out to keep us safe," said Sen. Schumer. "What would happen if they
couldn't do the job anymore?"

Nearly 75% of America's firefighters are volunteers. They respond to a
wide array of emergencies including structure and wildland fires,
medical calls, motor vehicle accidents, natural disasters and acts of
terrorism. However, the recruitment and retention of volunteer fire and
EMS personnel has become one of the major challenges facing the service.
The ranks of the volunteers have decreased over 10% in the last 20
years.

"By providing a small incentive to these brave men and women who risk
their life for little or no compensation, the Federal government can
help to reverse downward trend," said NVFC Chairman Philip C.
Stittleburg. "The cost of this tax incentive to the Federal government
would be quite small compared to the estimated $37.2 billion annual cost
savings provided by the volunteer emergency services."

The bills, numbered H.R. 934 and S. 625 respectively, have been referred
to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committees on
Finance. http://www.nvfc.org/news/2005-tax-credit-leg.html

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I'm for it, as long as "volunteer firefighter" is clearly defined and not just something where I can say "I am a volunteer firefighter at MY address" .

 

i really dont think there will be a problem with that..

 

OK, to be more exact : define how many hours (or responding to a minimum number of incidents over a year) a volunteer FF has to volunteer to get it. Minimums can be (very) low, but should be there.

Point is : put something on it to avoid letting just anyone claim to be a volunteer FF to get the credit while not actually doing anything (i.e. not ACTUALLY volunteering).

 

to be apart of a department you usually have to make a percentage of the calls per year, or spend a certain number of hours at the department per month, its already like this because they issue a lot of expensive equipment to us and they are paying insurance on us so they wanna make sure we're workin.

 

Oh yeah, and you cant set a number of calls that have to be made or hours spent for the whole country because some departments only run 50 or less calls per year, while other volunteer companies are running up in the thousands per year.

 

how do you go about being a volunteer fire fighter?

I've thought about it a few times over the years.

 

I'm still in school workin on becomin a firefighter fulltime, and when i found out there was a volunteer fire dept near me i jumped at the oppurtunity to find out if this is really what i want to do for a living, which is a chance most students dont get before they finish college. I've never volunteered anywhere else really but I do think it is one of the most rewarding things you can volunteer to do. If you can find one near you I definately recommend it.... although keep in mind it takes a lot of time and dedication cuz your doin the same job that the full time guys are doing except your doing it for free.

basically just go down there and tell em your interested.

 

soggynuts : first off, thanks for volunteering!

Second, guess maybe just requiring the person to be "associated" with a volunteer fire dept would take care of the issue.

Just call it the cynical ba$tard in me knowing there are folks out there who would CALL themselves volunteer FF's just to get this tax break, but without actually BEING a volunteer FF

 

yeah, ive thought about that problem in the past cuz i was thinking about how it would be nice if your department provided you with medical insurance or something since you are doing hazardous **** all the time... but then i figured a bunch of people would sign up just for that reason so its better to just do it for free.

 

Sounds like one of the more rational things that's been proposed in DC lately . . . +1