Following the Vermont Chamber’s testimony, the Senate Finance Committee added the military pension tax exemption back into S.53, excluding the first $10,000 of federally taxable U.S. military retirement pay from taxable income, and subject to adjusted gross income thresholds and phase outs. Once a military retiree becomes eligible for social security, they then need to choose exempting their military pension or social security, but they cannot exempt both. The Committee also provided a full exemption of U.S. military survivor benefit income to recognize the military service of Vermonters. The bill was favorably voted out of committee. The Vermont Chamber advocated for a full exemption to incentivize military retirees to either stay or move to Vermont, to increase the diversity of our communities while also strengthening our workforce and helping to address the severe workforce labor shortages. While this is a move in the right direction, more work needs to be done to make Vermont competitive with other states.