COLUMBUS—The Ohio Senate recently passed legislation sponsored by State Sen. Bob Peterson (R-Washington Court House) that will reduce the tax burden for Ohio’s combat-injured veterans.

Senate Bill 22 seeks to harmonize recent changes to the federal tax code with Ohio’s income tax law. This legislation ensures that Ohio’s combat-injured veterans can take advantage of tax savings for the benefits they have earned for their service, according to Peterson.

“Ohio’s veterans have already paid so much in their service to our country,” said Peterson. “Eliminating this burdensome tax on the benefits that our brave combat-injured veterans have rightfully earned further demonstrates our commitment to improving the quality of life for our service members as they return home.”

Changes to the federal tax code were made in December 2016 and Senate Bill 22 conforms to those changes, in order to avoid conflicting state and federal tax rules

“This legislation protects Ohio’s combat-injured veterans, giving them the ability to take advantage of tax benefits that they are entitled to,” said Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof (R-Medina), who co-sponsored the bill. “This puts the necessary changes in place as we go through the current tax filing season, ensuring that veterans can keep more of their hard-earned money.”

Enacting this bill will permit the combat-injured veterans to receive all the benefits allowed by the IRS, eliminating additional complexity when filing their taxes.

In addition, this bill ensures that Olympic and Paralympic athletes, whose Federal Adjusted Income is less than $1 million, do not have to pay income tax on the medals they receive.

This legislation now goes to the House of Representatives for further consideration.