Tax Bill Will End Benefits for Wildfire Victims

California wildfires continue to rage, with 98,000 residents being evacuated so far and at least 25,000 homes being under threat. At the same time, Republicans in the Congress want to limit the ability of taxpayers to write off losses from natural disasters, Newsweek reports.

Victims of floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and wildfires were able to claim uninsured losses thanks to a deduction which is supposed to be eliminated with the House tax bill, while the Senate bill allows it only if the president declares a federal disaster.

“A family who loses everything in a wildfire shouldn’t have to pray for a federal declaration so they can recover. Tax relief should be available to help all victims regardless of the type of natural disaster,” said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.

More than nine million acres have been consumed by about 58,000 wildfires in the U.S. The Senate’s plan foresees that only a few of those would qualify for the tax break.

“Asking victims of wildfires or earthquakes to suffer in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich is the height of cruelty,” Senators Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California said in a joint statement.

Those affected by this year’s wildfires will be able to file for the rebate as long as they can assess losses in time for their 2017 tax returns, but Democratic Representative Mike Thompson is not so sure that the people who face destruction of their homes could assess all of the damage before the end of the year.

“Do you really think that we’re going to be able to go in, assess all of the costs, get everything cleaned up, figure out where people are going to stand in time to do their taxes? It’s not going to happen,” he said.

There will be a possibility in the future for the Congress to pass special legislation that grants tax breaks after individual disasters, but Democratic Representative Brad Sherman thinks that it will be hard to pass it for smaller natural disasters.

“Let’s say your home burns down and it isn’t a disaster that CNN covers. You’re affected the same way, whether it’s nine of your neighbors or 900 of your neighbors that lose homes,” he said.