Supporting Montana's Veterans

It is Veterans’ Day as this is being written. This day, the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 at the 11th hour was the time when the guns went silent in the “Great War”, now known as World War I. The 11th of November was known as “Armistice Day” until 1954 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill officially declaring it as “Veterans’ Day” to honor the veterans of all wars the U.S. has fought in. As a national holiday, it is observed in the main by graveside ceremonies, parades (except in Austin that banned this year’s Veterans’ Day Parade), discounts at various retailers and some church services.

It is appropriate that we honor those who fought our wars for us. As recent history has shown us, liberty and freedom are fragile things and those who were willing to defend them should be honored for their sacrifice. Sacrifice comes in many forms, and everyone recognizes that those who gave the “ultimate sacrifice” can only be remembered by a grateful nation, as we can do nothing further for them. But most veterans survive their wars to come home to live the rest of their lives as “heroes amongst us.” When this writer was a lad, virtually every adult male in his life was a veteran of World War II and then Korea.  And the nation was grateful. As the years passed, and the Vietnam era came and went, various ways of honoring our veterans came into existence; even as the anti-military bias of the left grew. In 1973, the nation abandoned our history of the draft and became a professional military. Since September 11, 2001, our military has endured deployment after deployment and their sacrifices were shared by their families. Having a professional military allows us to continue our daily lives without any sacrifices of our own. The professional military is a young person’s occupation, so our grateful nation allows them to retire with a pension after twenty years (or more). Most then proceed to enter new careers and try to catch up with their age group in the private sector arena.

Recognizing that the retired military service pensions were earned in some of the most inhospitable places on earth, and not in the States where the veteran retires to, forty-two of the fifty States exempt parts or all of veteran pensions from the State income tax. Montana is not one of them. Despite Montana’s reputation as the most “patriotic” State and home to one of the largest veteran populations per capita, it has consistently rejected exempting even a portion of veteran pensions. In the 2019 Legislative Session and again in the 2021 Session, I introduced bills to exempt up to fifty percent of veteran pensions. Both times the bill passed the House and died in the Senate tax committee. If I am honored by the people of Kalispell to be their next State Senator in 2022, I intend to once again, submit a bill to exempt our veteran’s pensions from the State Income Tax.

Article II, Section 35 of the Montana Constitution states, “The People declare that Montana servicemen, servicewomen, and veterans may be given special considerations determined by the legislature.” By choosing to retire to Montana, these veterans continue to serve in many positive ways and by approving this policy we will not only show our gratitude but provide a positive incentive for more of our veterans to return to Big Sky Country. Then we can truly say “Welcome Home.”

- John Fuller