Underwood Delivers Urgently Needed Tax Relief For Gold Star Families

WASHINGTON–Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) helped pass H.R. 1994, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act) to deliver an urgently needed fix for military survivors and families facing drastic tax hikes under the Republican Tax Law, including the "kiddie tax" provision. The 2017 Republican Tax Law, enacted changes to how children's assets are taxed, increased a surviving child's tax burden from between 12-15 percent to the trust and estate tax rate of around 37 percent – requiring families to pay thousands of additional dollars in taxes on survivor benefits. The SECURE Act fixes this flawed tax treatment of payments to military survivors and families, as well as, provisions that unfairly and unexpectedly raised tax rates on benefits for children of fallen first responders, certain scholarships and fellowship grants, and other payments to children.

Earlier this year, Underwood introduced H.R. 1757 with Rep. Sean Casten (IL-6) to provide tax relief for Illinois families unfairly harmed by another new tax burden in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

"Our men and women in uniform should never fear that their children and loved ones will suffer if the worst should happen. I am proud to join my colleagues to repeal this devastating ‘kiddie tax' provision and ensure that our military families know that the government will be there for them in the aftermath of their loss," said Underwood.

The SECURE Act also includes numerous provisions to make it easier for American workers to save for retirement, expand opportunities for them to increase their retirement savings and ensure that all Americans are paying their fair share in taxes, including:

• Making it easier for small businesses to offer retirement plans to employees;
• Helping provide retirement benefit opportunities to home care workers;
• Allowing long-time, part-time workers to participate in a 401(k) plan;
• Providing relief to Cooperative and Small Employer Charity pension plans; and
• Closing down the Stretch IRA loophole used by the wealthy to obtain beneficial tax status on inherited income.

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