Legislation to provide tax credits for New Jersey businesses who hire disabled veterans has been introduced out in Trenton.  

Veteran (Michelle Malven, ThinkStock)
Veteran (Michelle Malven, ThinkStock)
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Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-Northfield) co-sponsored the bill along with Assemblyman Bob Andrzejczak (D-Cape May Court House).  According to Mazzeo, it would give employers the tax credits for four years, "maximum up to $1,800 per disabled veteran, per year."

The bill establishes credits under the corporation business and gross income tax. An employer would get a tax break for gross income tax or corporate business tax credit that would equal 15 percent of the wages paid to the qualified veteran up to that $1,800 dollar maximum.

The employer credits would be temporary and would apply to wages paid to the disabled veterans on or after Jan. 1, 2015, but before Jan. 1, 2018.

Mazzeo says for Gulf War vets in particular, "they come back from the Middle East, and they have to get right back into the workforce."

"This is a way to give an incentive for them, for businesses to hire disabled veterans so they get back into the workforce and provide for their families," Mazzeo said.

He says finding a job is especially challenging for veterans who are disabled.

According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were a total of 19,000 unemployed New Jersey veterans as of 2013, and that is one of the highest veterans unemployment rates in the nation. Patrick O'Keefe, director of Economic Research for Cohn/Reznick in Roseland, says we can infer from the federal numbers that the rate of unemployed disabled veterans is much higher than the rate of unemployed veterans in general.

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