Terry White Speaks out in Support of Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors

The Indiana Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Tax Credit
Press Conference
10/03/12

Thank you for coming. I’d like to talk to you today about the job challenges facing our veterans here in Indiana.

There are nearly 900,000 unemployed veterans in the United States-a staggering figure.

The latest department of labor and unemployment report shows that October 2011 the average unemployment rate among all veterans was 7.7% and 12.1% for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Equally troubling, veterans between the ages of 35 and 64, the group with the highest financial obligations and the fewest available VA education and training options, continue to make up nearly two-thirds of all unemployed veterans.

Overall, nearly 1 in 12 of our nation’s heroes can’t find a job to support their family, don’t have an income that provides stability, and don’t have work that provides them with the confidence and pride that is so critical to their transition home.

Indiana has 500,806 veterans. It is sad to say that our state is experiencing a 15.7% unemployment rate among Hoosier veterans who have served in the last ten years, and we have the fifth worst per-veteran return on benefits. We know that Indiana is one of just three states with a veteran’s affairs department that lacks accreditation from the U.S. Department of veteran’s affairs.
Even though the federal government tries to provide a number of services, including healthcare and some re-training here in Indiana, our state government does not do enough in helping those men and women who have served our country by putting their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.
While our gubernatorial candidates are calling for Indiana to hand more of its state contracts to veteran owned businesses, I think it’s important that we do everything in the private sector to encourage Hoosier employers to hire our Hoosier veterans.

Therefore, if I am elected as our next state senator, I intend to propose legislation, which I call the Indiana returning heroes and wounded warriors tax credit act, that would lower the rate of unemployment among our Indiana veterans.

It is essentially a hybrid version of the federal “Vow to Hire Heroes Act” which was signed into law in November of last year.

The entire gist of my proposal would be to provide tax credits to private employers for hiring veterans and disabled veterans who are out of work here in Indiana.
The tax credit would be for any business that hires a veteran that has been unemployed for at least four weeks.

It provides an even bigger tax break if a business hires a veteran who’s been unemployed for at least six months, and if a business hires an unemployed veteran with a disability related to their service it proposes doubling the tax credit for private employers in Indiana.

Essentially the returning heroes tax credit provides:
· for a credit of 40% of the first $6,000 of wages for employers who hire veterans who have been in receipt of unemployment compensation for at least four weeks;
· a credit of 40% of the first $12,000 of wages for employers who hire veterans who have been in receipt of unemployment compensation for longer than six months.

The wounded warrior tax credit would provide:
· a credit of 40% of the first $12,000 of wages for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been in receipt of unemployment compensation for at least 4 weeks;
· and 40% of the first $24,000 for those disabled veterans who have been unemployed for longer than 6 months.

We should continuously pay tribute and honor to our men and women who still serve in harm’s way.

We are forever in debt to a generation whose sacrifice has made this country safer and more respected.
When they take off the uniform, we should serve them as well as they have served us because no one who fights for this country should have to fight for a job, or a roof over their head, or the care they need when they come home.

Providing tax credits to employers who hire our Hoosier veterans is just one way I will continue to fight to protect the rights of working families in Indiana.