Military Spouse Residency Relief Act

[Victoria]

http://www.examiner.com/x-1117-DC-Mi...ncy-Relief-Act

DC Military Families Examiner
Update: Military Spouses Residency Relief Act


Yesterday's mark-up session regarding S.B. 475 was another success for the many, many military spouses who are lobbying to be given the right to have a home state, regardless of where their military spouse's career takes them. The Military Spouses Residency Relief Act legislation sailed through the VA Committee as it was written, and exactly as the military spouses in attendance had hoped.

David Ward, spokesman for North Carolina senator Mark Burr (key in introducing this legislation) spoke to me today about the role military spouses have played in the successes of the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act.

"This bill was brought to our attention by military spouses. We agreed immediately that it was something we needed to support."

Ward stated that senator Burr is excited about the progress of this "common-sense" legislation, saying,

"A great deal of the credit is due to the efforts of military spouses."

When asked what military spouses should be doing as we wait for the bill to go before the Senate, Mr. Ward replied,

"The best thing they can do is to call their congressmen and senators, to make their friends and family aware of the bill, and to have them call."




View the letter to send to your family and friends, asking them to call their senators in your honor.

View the listing of senators (complete with phone numbers).

Join the Facebook group Surge on the Senate!

[SnowCrystal]

This is fantastic... I'm on the facebook group, too.

[68Wife]

Can someone put this into layman's terms for me? What is it and what would it mean for us? I could read the whole thing but DD is against me doing much of anything right now!

[shellbellwillis]

How do you tell if your Senator Supports the bill or not?

[kiwijus]

Originally Posted by 68Wife Can someone put this into layman's terms for me? What is it and what would it mean for us? I could read the whole thing but DD is against me doing much of anything right now!

It means you could move from state to state with your DH without having to change your driver's liscense, or your car tags, if your own more than one car. It could still be registered in your own name in your home state.

For your DH (or, any military member in the family) taxes are taken out from their home state. So if Michigan has a 5% state tax, and California has an 8% sales tax, he can have taxes taken out in Michigan, even when he's stationed in Cali, if he's originally from Michigan.

[68Wife]

Originally Posted by kiwijus It means you could move from state to state with your DH without having to change your driver's liscense, or your car tags, if your own more than one car. It could still be registered in your own name in your home state. For your DH (or, any military member in the family) taxes are taken out from their home state. So if Michigan has a 5% state tax, and California has an 8% sales tax, he can have taxes taken out in Michigan, even when he's stationed in Cali, if he's originally from Michigan.

Oh I'm from California so that will actually probably work against us. Would we still be able to choose to pay for the state we are stationed at, because I think just about everywhere is less than CA.

[Heather]

Originally Posted by kiwijus It means you could move from state to state with your DH without having to change your driver's liscense, or your car tags, if your own more than one car. It could still be registered in your own name in your home state. For your DH (or, any military member in the family) taxes are taken out from their home state. So if Michigan has a 5% state tax, and California has an 8% sales tax, he can have taxes taken out in Michigan, even when he's stationed in Cali, if he's originally from Michigan.

I guess we've been doing something wrong then. Neither of us have ever changed our drivers license. Both of ours has a military expiration date. I haven't worked since he went AD but hes always had taxes go by our home state. The only thing we've ever changed is our car insurance and license plates when we bought a new car in a different state.

[Brandi]

I am part of their FB group

[*hollister*]

What do you say when you contact your senator? I sent out an e-mail to everyone in my address book to help get support.

[eelo]

Originally Posted by kiwijus It means you could move from state to state with your DH without having to change your driver's liscense, or your car tags, if your own more than one car. It could still be registered in your own name in your home state. For your DH (or, any military member in the family) taxes are taken out from their home state. So if Michigan has a 5% state tax, and California has an 8% sales tax, he can have taxes taken out in Michigan, even when he's stationed in Cali, if he's originally from Michigan.

Is the tax thing new? We always had taxes taken out of the Home state. I was an IL resident for a long time even though I lived in VA, CA and HI. IL doesn't tax military pay, so I never paid state taxes while on active duty. Is this something that changed after 1997?