http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-pension22apr22%2C0%2C485555.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
John McCain gets tax-free disability pension
The disclosure of the Navy benefit for injuries incurred as a Vietnam POW
may
raise fitness questions.
By Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 22, 2008
Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough
to
hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday
termed a
"disability pension" from the Navy.
When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately
disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as
income
on his return.
On Monday, McCain's staff identified the retirement benefit as a
"disability
pension" and said that McCain "was retired as disabled because of his
limited
body movements due to injuries as a POW."
McCain campaign strategist Mark Salter said Monday night that McCain was
technically disabled. "Tortured for his country -- that is how he acquired
his
disability," Salter said.
Certain types of military and veterans pensions are either partially or
completely tax-exempt, depending on the seriousness of the disability. In
McCain's case, the exemption is 100%.
If McCain had to pay taxes on the full amount of the pension, it would
have
increased his tax bill by about $18,000 based on the percentage of his
income
he paid to the federal government.
McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. After he was
released
in 1973, he returned home on crutches and began a painful physical
rehabilitation. He later regained flight status and commanded a Navy
squadron
before retiring from the service in 1981.
McCain would be the oldest man to enter the White House if he is elected
president, and questions have been raised about his health.
McCain has twice developed melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin
cancer.
The fact that he is legally designated with a disability pension may raise
further questions.
"It is a legitimate question to ask about the commander in chief: Is he
fit to
serve," said Robert Schriebman, a senior Pentagon tax advisor and tax
attorney
who recently retired as a judge advocate for a unit of the California
National
Guard.
If McCain can hike across the Grand Canyon, then why should he be getting
disability payments from the government that are tax-exempt, Schriebman
asked.
McCain shattered his knee and broke both arms when he was shot down over
North
Vietnam in 1967.
In his autobiographies, McCain said that his knee still bothered him in
cold
weather and that he was unable to raise his hands above his shoulders.
Elmo Baker, a retired colonel and president of a Vietnam War POW group,
said
many former POWs were receiving some type of military pension that was
partly
or fully tax-free.
Baker said he was receiving payments that were 70% tax-free, but that he
"didn't have as many injuries as McCain did."
Many of the Vietnam POWs are receiving payment under a program known as
"combat-related special compensation," which provides benefits and tax
exemptions under a complex system, based on such factors as the type of
injury
and the years of service.
Paul Galanti, another former POW in the group, said that while McCain's
injuries were serious enough to qualify him for disability, it would not
affect his performance as president.
"I don't know of any physical requirements to be commander in chief,"
Galanti
said. "He would have a nice car to drive around in and a nice airplane to
fly
in."
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