WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, MSNBC aired a segment today on U.S. Senator Chris Coons’ (D-Del.) legislative efforts to relieve financial burdens faced by American hostages, wrongful detainees, and their families upon returning home. Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Americans who are held abroad as hostages or wrongful detainees face IRS fines and interest for unpaid taxes despite having no ability to pay while imprisoned. Senator Coons first learned of this issue when Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter wrongfully detained for 544 days in Iran, returned home to find he owed tens of thousands in fines and late fees to the IRS. Senator Coons’ bipartisan Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act with Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) cleared the Senate last year but stalled in the House. The senators plan to reintroduce the legislation later this year.
American hostages face widespread financial burdens, including diminished Social Security and retirement benefits, as well as lowered credit scores. Senator Coons remains committed to advancing legislation that addresses these challenges, including:
Ali Vitali: The word that Jason used when I spoke with him was, “This is absurd.”
Senator Coons: It is absurd. This is a simple fix to a problem that you can understand once you sit down and talk to the agency, but Congress should fix this and fix it now.
Ali Vitali: Especially amid the growing urgency of more Americans wrongfully detained by U.S. adversaries – most recently, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
Senator Coons: A number of countries – authoritarian countries – are seizing Americans and using them as leverage. And so one of our challenges is making sure that we’re connecting with their families.
Jason Rezaian: Our hope – and, you know, we’re a small community of people; several dozen, maybe a couple of hundred, Americans who have been subjected to this kind of hostage-taking – our hope is that people after us don’t have to deal with these sorts of hurdles when they get home, and I don’t think that they need to.
The full segment can be watched here.