Tell Your Congressional Reps To Support Hearing-Aid Tax Credits

It’s time to call your U.S. Senators and Representatives again to tell them to support the Hearing Aid Tax Credit – a $500 tax break for first-time buyers of hearing aids. This is the third year in a row bills have been introduced in both the Senate (S. 1410) and House (H.R. 2329). So far they have never gotten out of committee. As in years past, it is a bi-partisan effort. Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, is principal sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, which makes sense because the world’s biggest cluster of hearing-assistance companies is located in and around Minneapolis and Eden Prairie, Minnesota. But Democrat Hillary Clinton of New York is a co-sponsor. Interestingly enough, she is the only Democratic presidential candidate listed as co-sponsor. Hello Barack?

Sorry to say, neither of my Massachusetts Senators, Edward Kennedy or John Kerry, is listed as a co-sponsor, though my Congressman, Rep. Barney Frank, is among a long bi-partisan list of co-sponors of the House bill. The bill is just being reported to House and Senate committees, and passage is an iffy proposition that would be a long way off. So now is the time to get on the phone and to write letters and emails to your Reps.