support our volunteer firefighters and EMTs by protecting the tax exemption that communities provide for their service!

At the end of 2010, an exemption from income taxation on incentives that many local communities provide to volunteer firefighters and EMTs as a reward for their service expired. As a result, tens of thousands of volunteer emergency responders across the country will have to pay higher taxes this year without action. I urge President Obama to support H.R. 2353, the Volunteer Responder Incentive Protection Reauthorization Act, which would extend an income tax exemption on recruitment and retention incentives that state and local governments provide to their volunteer firefighters and EMTs. In order to improve recruitment and retention, many volunteer fire and EMS agencies now provide financial and non-monetary incentives. Imagine the cost of losing these volunteer organizations.