August 13, 2014 — Something seems grossly unjust about the notion that direct aid being provided by the federal government to fishermen as part of a national fisheries economic disaster package may be taxable — beginning with the idea of these working businessmen having to funnel a hefty chunk of the money they are due right back to the same government that put them in this bind in the first place.
So while it is likely too late for congressional lawmakers to rectify this latest insult to fishermen, they should already be considering the need to specify the words “tax free” in any similar aid bill they will be putting through next year. And make no mistake — the delays in providing the long-overdue aid need to the fishing industry this year, coupled with potential new cod limit cuts and a failure to address the need for changes in the regulatory framework of the federal Magnuson-Stevens Act are already ensuring that another significant aid package will be needed to keep this industry afloat through 2015.
More than three weeks after Times staff writer Sean Horgan first began asking state and federal agencies whether the still-pending state aid would be taxed, the Internal Revenue Service finally provided at least a partial answer Monday. It was, with predictable clarity, “it depends.”
Read the full editorial from the Gloucester Daily Times