"Millionaires Tax" Now Gone--Next Issue:Hiring Exiting GIs for Civilan Jobs

Senate Democrats have decided to drop a proposed "millionaires tax" to pay in part for President Obama's recent jobs and have moved on to pursuing funds to pay for a tax credit for businesses hiring soldiers re-entering the civilan job market. Democratic Senators Debbie Stabenow (MI) and Patty Murray (WA) both urged the Senate to remember the sacrifices of military men and women and ease their return to civilan jobs. The proposal would continue a withholding provision for federal and state contractors to enable the creation of a $2400 credit for businesses hiring unemployed veterans. The credit could go up to as much as $5600 if the veteran was out of work for more than six months and as high as $9600 for disabled vets.

A shrewd political move by the Democrats to be seen as military friendly and this credit surely is less controversial than a surtax. Would the jobs credit improve hiring of ex-GIs?; it is hard to say but with overall unemployment rates of nearly 9% I can understand why Democrats would want to see.