Members of Recent York’s Congress are calling on President Biden to stop imposing taxes on soldiers serving in terror-ravaged Kenya – including fighters from the famous “fighting 69.” Big Apple Infantry.
Military personnel are exempt from paying federal income taxes – and any Recent York State or local income taxes – while serving in designated “combat” zones.
Members of the Army’s 69th Regiment have recently been deployed to Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya.
But unlike other countries, Kenya isn’t considered a dangerous combat zone, and US soldiers assigned there pay taxes while on duty.
Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn, sent a letter to Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to increase the tax credit to soldiers assigned to Kenya.
The bipartisan letter was co-signed by Republican House Speaker Elise Stefanik and Representative Grace Meng (D-NY) of Queens and Claudia Tenney (R-NY), representing Utica and Binghamton.
Lawmakers said they focused on the tax injustice for energetic duty soldiers stationed in Kenya after seeing an article about it in The Post.
“We’re writing to specific our concern in regards to the lack of parity in tax rates for Recent York State National Guard troops currently conducting military operations in the Horn of Africa under the name of Task Force Wolfhound.
“The duty force is made up of National Guard troops from all around the great state of Recent York, with the core of the first Battalion, 69th Infantry Headquartered in Recent York,” a December 15 letter from members of Congress, Biden said.
“Task Force Wolfhound operates in the countries of Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya. While each Djibouti and Somalia carry the Department of Defense designation as a Combat Zone, which qualifies military personnel assigned to those countries for Combat Zone Tax Exemptions (CZTE), Kenya doesn’t have this designation. Which means that soldiers facing the identical regional threats as their peers are ineligible.”
Members of the House added: “For Djibouti and Somalia to be designated combat zones while Kenya, a rustic stricken by terrorist attacks on behalf of the militant group Al-Shabaab, is putting Recent York National Guard soldiers in danger and allowing them to be taxed on the income they receive defending the U.S. freedom and values.
![U.S. soldiers stationed in Kenya pay income tax while on duty while their counterparts serve elsewhere](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/us-troops-soldiers-east-africa-1.jpg?w=1024)
They noted that the State Department forbids government employees from traveling to parts of Kenya as a result of the extent of concern about terrorist attacks.
“If the US can prohibit our government employees from traveling to those regions due to the risks of the world, how is it possible that the identical area isn’t considered a combat zone for our military personnel?” they said.
For instance of terrorist activity, lawmakers cited that Al-Shabab militants launched a pre-dawn raid on January 5, 2020 on a runway utilized by the U.S. and Kenyan military positioned on the coast of Kenya near the border with Somalia, killing one U.S. service member and two U.S. private contractors and “destroyed $71.5 million in U.S. government resources.”
![Representative Grace Meng.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/grece-meng-1.jpg?w=1024)
Former Democratic Congressman Max Rose of Staten Island, a combat veteran who served in the 69th Infantry, had previously called for various tax treatment for soldiers stationed in Kenya.
Malliotakis defeated rival Rose in the 2020 election and last month’s rematch – but they’re on the identical side in opposing a tax on soldiers.
Members of the House concluded in a letter to Biden: “After giving a lot to the US, American servicemen shouldn’t be paying the US government for putting them in danger. We urge your administration to officially designate Kenya as a combat zone to make sure our service members are eligible for CZTE [Combat Zone Tax Exclusions] and the advantages they deserve.
The White House had no immediate comment.