Veterans Tax Credits under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act: The VOW to Hire Heroes Act provides tax incentives of up to $5,600 for employers hiring veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, and $2,400 in tax credits for veterans who have been unemployed for more than 4 weeks but less than 6 months. Further, the tax credit for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability and who has been looking for work for six months or longer can be as much as $9,600.
Background on the VOW to Hire Heroes Act:
VOW to Hire Heroes is a bipartisan, comprehensive legislation aimed at lowering the unemployment rate among U.S. veterans. The bill combines parts of Chairman Murray's Hiring Heroes Act (S. 951; Report #112-36), Chairman Miller's Veterans Opportunity to Work Act (H.R. 2433; Report #112-242), and veterans tax credits into a comprehensive package designed to aggressively attack the high rate of unemployment among U.S. veterans. The veterans tax credits are just one of many pieces contained in this legislation.
Relevant Statistics on Veterans:
- In 2010, the average unemployment rate among returning veterans was 11.5% (DOL).
- The joblessness rate for Gulf War-era II veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, of which two-thirds are younger than 35 years old, is 12.1% (BLS).
- Young male veterans (ages 18-24) who served during Gulf War-era II had an unemployment rate of 21.9% in 2010 (BLS).
- Currently, there are nearly 1 million unemployed veterans in the U.S. (DOL).
- Veterans account for approximately 9.5% of the adult U.S. population, but account for 11.5% of all homeless adults (BLS).
- In 2010, 1 in 150 veterans were homeless, and 1 in 16 had in income below the poverty line (HUD).
Further Reading:
Click here to download a fact sheet on The VOW To Hire Heroes Act from the Democratic Policy and Communications Center.
Click here to read about Veterans Tax Credits and other Hiring Credits for Employers on the ETS Blog.