Taxing Duty

Civilian federal employees, just like the soldiers they work alongside in Iraq, are granted generous additional pay -- up to 50 percent of base salary -- for working in danger zones and living under strenuous conditions.

But a variance in the law still leaves civil servants, such as Navy aircraft inspector Jerry Bennett, behind military personnel in compensation. Bennett spent about 90 days, from March to June of 2005, running an aircraft repair facility at Al Asad Airbase, about 180 kilometers west of Baghdad.

In those months, Al Asad was hit by rocket and mortar attacks roughly every other night, Bennett said. Luckily, none of them hit too close to him.

He escaped death or injury, but upon arriving home, discovered what he had not avoided: taxes. Civilian government employees working in combat zones are not treated to tax-free status the way members of the military are.

A bill introduced in the House by Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., would change that. Now sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee, H.R. 294 would grant Defense Department civilian employees the same tax-free status as their military counterparts.

Hefley has introduced this legislation three times before, his spokeswoman said.

The Federal Managers Association has put the measure on its legislative agenda and would even like to expand it to apply to all federal employees working in combat zones, said Thomas Richards, government affairs representative for the group.

"Certainly we don't want to say that civilians are on the front lines in Iraq actually shooting weapons and going out for operations in Baghdad," Richards said. "But there are civilian employees that are working right alongside military members, and we believe they should receive tax benefits."

At Al Asad, civilian and military personnel were equal, Bennett said.

"We berthed in the same areas they berthed," Bennett said. "We lived in the same areas as the military, we ate at their chow halls, we worked the same hours they worked, we got rocketed and mortared … We are exposed to everything they are exposed to."

Also, not every member of the military is a soldier fighting on the ground.

"Let's take a cook in the military," said Donald McCall, national vice president of FMA. "A cook goes outside and cooks in a tent, he stays on the base and he draws a tax-free exemption."

Bennett said about a third of his paycheck from Iraq went to taxes; the problem can be worsened because the extra pay can push civil servants into a higher tax bracket.

But he said even if the bill does not get anywhere, he would not hesitate to repeat his time in Iraq.

"I would have still went over there, tax exempt or not," Bennett said. "We have a job to do also. Everybody's been volunteers and we all knew this going into it. I'd go back tomorrow if I could."