Please contact the Appropriations Committee before April 15th.  Can contact via:

• Email:  Please cut and paste the letter below and send via email to  approps.committee@assembly.ca.gov.  
   
• Mail:  Assemblymember Chris R. Holden
            Chair, Assembly Appropriations Committee
            1021 O Street, Suite 8220
            Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Assemblymember Holden,

Assemblymember James Ramos has introduced Assembly Bill 46 in the 2023 California legislature to exempt Military Retirees and Surviving Spouses from California income tax.  As you know, California is the only state in the country that does not provide some form of tax relief for its military retirees.

Despite having the largest number of assigned active military members of any state, California only ranks fourth in number of retirees.  California continues to lose retirees at an accelerated rate.  After 20 years of military service, military retirees are highly skilled with experience in management, task prioritization, resource management, attention to detail, teamwork, and communication. Military retirees who do remain in California provide an available workforce to fill many of the almost 40,000 technical and over 20,000 medical field job vacancies in California.  These jobs include software engineering, cybersecurity, aerospace, artificial intelligence, biochemistry, physicians, nurses, and management.  Additionally, many military retirees, surviving spouses and children will use their educational benefits to pursue advanced degrees in STEM and medical occupations providing a much needed help to California's workforce.

Military retirees pay taxes on their second career earnings which will likely well exceed their military retirement. Instead of losing a taxpayer and family, California will retain taxpayers with increased earnings and family tax revenues. AB-46 will actually raise total state tax revenues. Retained retirees will immediately increase sales and property tax revenues, aiding our state’s, city, and county budgets.

Another consideration is that military retiree pay is a stream of federal revenue into the economy of the state where a retiree chooses to live. According to a study conducted for the Governor's Military Council, the defense industry contributed $168 billion to CA's economy in 2021, 5% of the state's budget. The DoD estimates that military retirees and surviving spouses bring a $4.8 billion, annual inflation-protected stream of federal funds, to California's economy each year.  Already Virginia, Florida and Texas receive more than $6 billion each year in federal military retiree income and California is falling further behind.  

AB 46 honors those who dedicated their lives to serve their country, and their surviving spouses and families.  Additionally, it helps our state retain and attract uniformed-service retirees to strengthen the state’s skilled workforce, bring stability to communities, and contribute to the state and local tax base.

Please support AB-46.  Doing so provides strong visible support to our California employers and economy, as well as our retired military members and their surviving spouses.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.

Signature

Name, Address

[Organization if applicable]

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Also contact your Assemblymember via the following Voters Voice link which send an auto generated letter of support to your CaliforniaAssemblymember:  https://www.votervoice.net/mobile/CSCVC/Campaigns/102352/Respond?fbclid=IwAR3pQDy_1nFSIgyWCohGsxA1KnxjWZx3r-NHDIDL9DBJQmJ9ThoqOPpZAyY     A fast 3 seconds to do!