Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Wednesday March 19 2025. Have your
host James Jamel off here in part two today. We're going to speak with our
friends from UW Extension. We have Kazooa Tao joining us looking forward to
talking with her and joining us right now in studio our good friend Rock
Larson Wood County Veteran Services officer. Rock it is always good to have you
in studio talk with you how you've been been good and busy but that's what they
pay us for what you pay us for. Right. The taxpayers of Wood County so yeah. You
mentioned it being busy certainly as we are in tax season it is a busy time for
many of us including our veterans. Let's talk a little bit about tax benefits for
our veterans Rock and what could be known or might not be known by some of our
vets out there. Okay well one any federal VA benefit is non-taxable so you won't
get a $10.99 or any document from them so if you're getting say a 10% service
connected disability $175 a month you're not going to get a document from them
to report on your taxes. You can report that income when you're going out for
loan or and you need to do it if you're going for a needs-based program like
energy assistance or food stamps but for tax purposes that's free so if you
have a disability and it's been quite a while maybe you ought to think about is
maybe has it gotten worse and we can explore that because it's not a static
thing I mean you got out of service you had 10% 20 years ago if that 10% was for
a knee or even a 0% for a knee or a back condition or whatever probably has
gotten a little worse or caused some other issues and we'd love to help you
explore that and maybe rein some more federal money into woodconey. In addition
we get a lot of business now with the Wisconsin property tax credit because
all of a sudden people we try to catch it when they're first eligible but I
got one person a couple weeks ago bought a house finally and another person
who had five years residency because it was if you don't enter service from
Wisconsin you have to be a resident for five years before they'll wave your
property tax and that's only for a hundred percent disabled veterans or veterans
getting a hundred percent level for because they have individual unemployability or
if the veteran is deceased the surviving spouse if the veteran was rated a
hundred percent service connected at the time of his death or if they're in
receipt of dependency and indemnity compensation so somebody may have not been
rated but after his death like we talked earlier about the PAC tax several
times it added new disabilities and new locations for for disabilities and
for some to illnesses and if they die of that because of that bill the spouse
even though the veteran may have died years ago is now eligible for dependency
and indemnity compensation so that would you still pay your property taxes but
when you then do your Wisconsin tax return you get currently a hundred
percent of your property tax for your primary resident and up to one acre of land
so it's a significant amount of money yeah and the community doesn't suffer
because they still pay you still pay it and the school district gets it and
mid-state gets it and the county which is my my salary gets it which is a good
thing I like getting paid but yeah if your spouse was a veteran and was served
during the Vietnam era and passed away or served in the Gulf and had you know
many cancers and respiratory conditions and stuff that we talked about all
before but you can still even though it's been years later filed for that
disability benefit dependency and indemnity compensation or once again if
the veteran come and see us so those are the tax bits we get a lot of
questions on if for the past several sessions of the state legislature there's
been a bill to reduce that threshold to 70% service connected that has not
passed I'm anticipating it will be reintroduced again this year made it
almost last year so it's time you reach out when you're talking to your state
legislators and let them know that hey you you support this or not I mean hopefully
you do and with that would bring it then they tweak that a bit so that they put
in some some thresholds to make mansions you know like some people really don't
need they'll take the tax credit but they don't need it but they simply put in
some thresholds on the property value it can only up to a certain amount and I
can't remember all the details but they also put it you know the bill would be
that if you're 70% service connected disabled you would get 70% of your
property tax reimbursed there's also been a move to try to get that to be renters insurance
renters right and it was in the governor's budget which is his wish list and now the
legislature is saying well we'll present our wish list and it'll work through but what that
was is similar to the I believe it's a homestead credit whereas if you're a hundred percent
service connected or I think his budget also was a 70% that depending on if you paid your
heat or if your heat was paid by your landlord it was a you know 25% of your
rent would be a tax credit if you paid your heat and 20% if the landlord paid it
or vice versa anyway those so those are those are ideas being out there that could help those
disabled veterans who who do not own their own home so so that would be a a wonderful benefit if
it were to come through the legislative process so those are things out there on taxes and
right and the wish list and things that are being floated um rock this one um like many of our
listeners out there hits close to home uh my uncle Tim bought and Vietnam uh and uh him and my
Ann Cherry are uh you know in in this group of some of the people you're talking about here and
everything and I have to say my Ann Cherry is one of the smartest people I've ever known and I don't
I don't know if she knows some of this stuff I don't know if uh how much of this she even understands
about some of this stuff I'm listening I'm very in tune with what you're telling me right here
and I I feel like I need a a to be taking notes as you're telling me this um you need to know
is our phone number exactly that thank you we have teed me up perfectly rock I want to let the
audience know that you know certainly if you have questions uh as rock has told us many times
that's what he's there for that's for Lita and all the people there are there for uh to be able
to help answer these questions and make sure that we take care of our vets and uh we're um
regardless of what's going on on a governmental level or Washington or any of these things on a
local level there are certain things we can do you mentioned calling your representatives
and certainly uh sharing this information and making sure that our local veterans understand
know about their benefits know about the things that are available to them correct I'll throw it
out right away our phone number is 715 421 840 and we're there because we do this every day and
we still have questions and have to look stuff up there's so many details I had a email this morning
from a widow uh of of a veteran who died of a Gulf war illness uh a couple years ago and she
was asking about follow on education benefits because she's thinking about going back to school
hey yeah that's the type of things and as that I mean one she should get her state tuition
if she goes to a state school waived but also she's got federal GI bill benefits depending on
if she's going to school less than half time full to three quarter time full time uh
like half time is $890 a month unless you can have your tuition paid um so I mean there's some
substantial benefits that people have really and they try yeah their websites but they're
confusing a second they're just moving and um so we're the local representative and everyone
calls up and asks oh you're being affected by whatever's going on in the federal government
we work for you we're paid by you we're county employees we will be here might take us whatever
happens on the federal side you know it's going to happen and we're here to help you navigate through
it and uh rock when it you know every just for any everyday citizen uh you know tax laws change
from year to year and it can be a little bit difficult to keep up with with with this you touch on
some of these things are there anything else that people should be aware of especially I mean our
veterans should be aware of when it comes to tax time oh boy well also if you're enrolled in
VA health care um that and you should there you do get a document I believe that's and it
qualifies you for um for having coverage um under the Affordable Health Care Act so you don't have
you don't pay a penalty and I have no idea what the penalty is because tax laws it holds
set of the big tax or the big laws that I deal with uh and try to be an expert on but uh but so
that's a way to minimize whatever penalties they might be able to put on you by not having
insurance if you can get eligible um and there's all sorts of different ways it's a whole
another lane of our business is getting people enrolled in VA health care uh and it could be based
on if your service connected your enroll you can be enrolled if you're uh served in certain areas
you can automatically be enrolled if you then uh after all those weird little this one gets you
in this one gets you in this one it comes down to how much money you make uh can you afford to
purchase your own health care or not uh and it's not a real uh low threshold it's not really either
you know so I mean right but but it's and it takes family income but we're here to to guide you
through that um and hopefully as I always say my job is to do anything short of fraud to get you
a benefit right right and we appreciate that um uh there was a there was a there was a topic that
I did want to bring up with you rock and I don't really have a um a question here or anything but
I do think that it's something worth talking about um we ask our community all the time uh for
our citizens out there to support our veterans and support those that uh protected freedom
protected democracy uh are the reason we could do fun little shows like this and so many of these
other things but I'm curious and I've talked to veterans about this uh that that support it
means more than any of them could ever put into words and they're very appreciative of it what it
means for other veterans to support veterans I feel like this may seem like it goes hand in hand like
of course this would be a thing but uh unfortunately I'm seeing uh more and more of people who have
enlisted who have fought for our country uh that now our our veterans are now removed from the
military but don't seem to remember remembering their roots and don't seem to be supporting their
fellow veterans how important is it to you to the staff there you believe supporting the the
visual of this veterans supporting veterans well difficult uh to come up with a quick response but
veterans can support other veterans in all sorts of different ways and and we're so busy and we've
got you know we've got only so much time we can be on our cell phone we're only 24 hours in the
day for this role so you get busy but even if you're not actively involved in a post or a
unit of a veterans organization being part of their numbers as they report to the state legislature
in the state you know because I've been to those hearings and at the federal level and the
we're the American Legion of Wisconsin and we represent X number of veterans and our members
are concerned about so so that's a passive way to support I mean it's you know you buy your
membership you get the the newsletter and and the National Legion magazine or VFW or DAV
that's one way another way that I always tell people when they come into my office or when I bump
into them on the street or whatever so are you enrolled in VA healthcare oh other veterans need
it more than me and we've taught had this conversation before they may need it more than you but
you being a number in that base because it's all about the numbers it's always about the numbers
just being a member and going to get your annual physical or maybe your flu shot once a year
through the VA that means that the resources stay in central Wisconsin and those numbers start
dwindling they're gonna go to where the numbers are bigger yeah um because that's the way government
works I mean you look at all the stuff and how much time do you hear about Dane County and Madison
because those are the population bases or the Fox Valley and we need to be supportive here
even just passively you know by being a number that the commander of the American Legion
or their legislative chairman when they sit in front of that assembly committee can say
yes yeah um so that's a passive way another passive way or not to this when you see the
poppy sales or the forget me nuts or whatever each one has I mean the little bit of money that you
donate or that's made there they use that you know support American Legion baseball
outside kids and youth programs or or the Badger Boys State or Camp American Legion where
veterans can go and get a relaxing rehabilitative stay in the north woods and a gentleman come in
elderly gentleman a while back and want it to know hey how can I donate to this to Camp American
Legion has he's got some 401k money that he's not using and needs to use type thing and he
think goodness I mean great for him he's in a position he's thinking about helping veterans so
there's ways there but these people don't just these posts and whatever they use that money in
the community they do community service says they go out and they do uh veterans honors uh at
funerals they like I said a camp of American Legion the American Legion auxiliary does all sorts of
different things so there's lots of ways to support without having it be a burden on your busy
schedule right from your you know I get it yeah there's you know there's a gazillion channels on
TV there's your phone there's your spouse there's your children there's your job I mean our
lives are full it's a lot different than 50 60 years ago when you know there really wasn't as
much stuff going on things were moving uh slower you know but uh but those are the things that
can help keep um keep us with these benefits and certainly the the the help and the attention
that these that deserves and needs um and just to piggyback on that something you mentioned before
rock about contacting your representatives your local representatives when there are causes and
things happening with our veterans that are important to you and reaching out to them and letting
them know that as a constituent as their boss uh this is important to you because let's never
forget that we are the boss here we the people we are the ones that are trying to get these things
make a better world every day for our communities and for our veterans um and I will say
to us as as you were saying there before about whether it's broad fry sales or the poppy seed things
when you see when you have these uh in your town in the your community not only being a part of
them but spreading the word about them letting people know hey over the ij on west side that they're
there today or that kind of thing uh spreading the word about that um being involved in these events
when you can uh and being there and and one thing that uh doesn't cost you a darn thing
and and we can all do every single person out there I mean I know all of you but I know you can
do this support support encouragement cost nothing can mean everything if you show your support to
these veterans to these causes whether it's on a global level a local level or just a one-on-one
level when you're walking into a grocery store and you see them selling brats or something like that
make eye contact say hello certain things that it may not seem like a big deal to you but I promise
you it means something to them yeah uh another big a big thing it goes a long way and it's nothing
more than being sociable you see a guy or gal going through and they've got some military article
you know whether it's a their ship's name on their hat or Vietnam veteran or Iraqi veteran or
thank-up for their service I mean they just you just see them and you know because I'm pretty low
key I don't I do have a sticker on my car but other than that you know I really don't look like I
spent 26 years in military walking around often sometimes I'll have a sweatshirt or something on
but not not but when I come up and they don't know me it you know and I say thank you for your
service it's just you just see them bright now yeah I appreciate it another thing to point out
to veterans to get involved a bit to know the benefits out there because if a veteran is in need or
hurting or you see them you know referring them to us or referring them to the VA health care
clinic or is that's important one it makes a better quality life for them but also if we use
state and federal VA resources to help solve a problem or an issue with somebody in our community
that frees up all the other elements of our community to help somebody who isn't a veteran
right you know so so if we can use a veteran's mental health program say
um and that would free up our county social services resources veterans are still
eligible for all those resources but if we can use a different resource or or a housing
voucher or HUD VASH is a is a program the VA has and HUD they and they have their own
vouchers for that so our local HUD vouchers are not used we're using a VA
late one right and so there there are different ways to just support the whole community by
supporting the veterans and using their resources to to multiply the good that's done in our in
our community well said and I always appreciate the time from your rocket people have
follow questions they'd like to know more reach out to you how can they do that again once again
over phone numbers 7154218420 they can also reach us on the county website has our email it's veterans
at woodcountywi.gov and that comes to the general inbox and either Ben or Lita will
handle that hopefully unless it's something that's beyond or sensitive or really weird or something
that might blow up then they pass it to me thank you again rock for your service for your time
here and as certainly for everything you do for our community we'll talk again real soon
wow that time always goes fast we really didn't have a plan really does it goes by quick we
appreciate you Ben thank you for the time will have more midday magazine coming up here at WFHR
