THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994            TAG: 9410120418
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   32 lines

U.S. TROOPS WILL GET A TAX BREAK BECAUSE THE GULF IS A COMBAT ZONE, WAGES EARNED THERE ARE FULLY OR PARTIALLY EXEMPT.

U.S. military personnel dispatched to defend Kuwait will get a break on their income taxes because the formal designation of the Persian Gulf area as a combat zone was never dropped after the 1991 gulf war.

Technically, the U.S.-led action that expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait - Operation Desert Storm - never ended, said Lt. Col. Doug Hart, a Pentagon spokesman. An executive order ending the operation was never issued, he said.

As a result, enlisted personnel among the 63,500 troops that are en route or scheduled to go to the gulf will not have to pay federal taxes on income earned during their deployment, Hart said.

Officers get a partial exemption, Hart said.

All military personnel in the gulf will receive hazardous duty pay of $150 a month, even if there for less than a month, Hart said.

The U.S. troops in Haiti get the same hazardous duty pay, but their income is not tax exempt because Haiti is not a designated combat zone, Hart said.

KEYWORDS: PERSIAN GULF IRAQ by CNB