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ONLY FIRST-LINE CASUALTIES QUALIFY FOR 9/11 TAX BREAK, SAYS DISTRICT COURT
August 25, 2008
Congress passed a special tax reduction those killed in the terror attacks. A widow of one of the victims committed suicide five weeks later. Last month a U.S. District Court in California ruled that the 9/11 tax relief didn't apply to her.
Very sad. It does illustrate the problem with these sympathy provisions. If you are going to tax dead people, do we really want to make some deaths count more than others? It's just as tragic if somebody dies in a car wreck, or takes her life because terrorists killed her husband, as when a terrorist kills somebody directly. Showing favoritism to one group, however sympathetic, is by definition unfair to everyone else who dies prematurely. No politician would ever be caught dead saying so.
Cite: ESTATE OF PRASANA KALAHASTHI, DC-CA Central District, No. 2:07-cv-05771
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