Column: Veterans package is a step in the right direction

Published 12:00 am Friday, November 23, 2007

By Dan Severson, Guest Column

In the past few years Minnesota has made some respectable achievements relating to our military and veterans, but it is time to quit the soft-shoe approach and get into the real game.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty unveiled a $51 million package Nov. 11, featuring 35 initiatives including military income and pension tax exemption. The proposal is called the 2008 Military and Veterans Support Package and it would be available to those who served in the nation&8217;s armed forces and for residents of the state now on active duty.

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This effort is geared toward expanding and enhancing veterans&8217; services, addressing tax issues, providing additional educational benefits, and advancing initiatives focused on businesses that employ veterans. A combination of ongoing and one-time funding is proposed to finance the initiatives.

All but a handful of states currently offer full or considerably large tax exemptions for military pensions; Minnesota is not one of them. Wisconsin is aggressively recruiting second-career military people and that state&8217;s veteran population has raced past Minnesota&8217;s since it enacted tax-exemption legislation in 2001. Other states are actively recruiting veterans because they understand the quality of their professionalism and, also of great importance, the federal dollars they bring when they move to the state.

These 20- to 30-year veterans are looking for a place to start their second careers in talented roles like nurses, doctors, logistics specialists and human resource personnel. They are professionals with coveted skill sets that bring experience and leadership to our communities as well as a strong sense of community volunteerism.

Instead of attracting veterans, Minnesota has been pushing them out the door in comparison with other states. Proportional to national figures, our number of second-career military residents should be about 33,150. We have a little more than 14,000 veteran residents and that number has been steadily declining.

That means we have fewer than half the veterans we should have and are losing more daily. Those 14,000 bring in around $240 million a year in federal pension dollars. If we got just to the number we should have, Minnesota would be receiving more than half a billion pension dollars, in addition to the tax revenues and talent that come from a highly talented second-career workforce.

It&8217;s time for us to create a competitive environment which is comparable to other states. We need to aggressively support veterans and the House and the Senate must back the governor&8217;s proposal. This is where we can show veterans we want their experience and leadership; we want them in our communities.

State Rep. Dan Severson is a Republican from Sauk Rapids. He is a member of the Veterans Affairs Division Committee.