I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1790 

To amend title 38, United States Code, and the Internal Revenue Code 

of 1986 to establish, in the event of any war, a war tax to be collected 

and deposited in a trust fund for the payment of benefits and compensation to veterans of that war. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2017 

Mr. O’ROURKE (for himself, Mr. JONES, Mr. MOULTON, and Mr. YOUNG of 

Alaska) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, and the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 to establish, in the event of any 

war, a war tax to be collected and deposited in a trust 

fund for the payment of benefits and compensation to 

veterans of that war. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Health Care 

5 Trust Fund Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) war is inherently unpredictable, and the 

4 true cost of health care related to conflicts is often 

5 not fully understood until several decades later; 

6 (2) an independent estimate from Harvard Uni7 versity found that over the next 40–50 years, the 

8 costs related to health care and disability compensa9 tion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will exceed 

10 $970 billion; 

11 (3) this is evidenced by the growing treatment 

12 costs for conditions related to Agent Orange expo13 sure in Vietnam Veterans, Gulf War Syndrome in 

14 Gulf War Veterans, and conditions related to burn 

15 pit exposure in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans; and 

16 (4) taking steps to address these costs now en17 sures that Congress fully accounts for these costs 

18 when considering the use of military force and that 

19 our Nation is better postured to address the long20 term and unforeseen health care needs of its vet21 erans. 

22 SEC. 3. WAR TRUST FUNDS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 38, United 

24 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol25 lowing new section: 


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1 ‘‘§ 119. War trust funds 

2 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Upon the commencement of 

3 any war, the Secretary shall establish in the General Fund 

4 of the Treasury a trust fund to be named for that war. 

5 Amounts collected pursuant to section 59A of the Internal 

6 Revenue Code of 1986 by reason of the occurrence of that 

7 war shall be deposited into the fund. 

8 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts available in a trust 

9 fund established under subsection (a) for a war may be 

10 used by the Secretary to provide for the following for vet11 erans who serve on active duty in the Armed Forces dur12 ing that war: 

13 ‘‘(1) Hospital care and medical services. 

14 ‘‘(2) Payments of disability compensation under 

15 the laws administered by the Secretary. 

16 ‘‘(3) Other programs and benefits under the 

17 laws administered by the Secretary that the Sec18 retary determines are directly related to the health 

19 care of such veterans. 

20 ‘‘(c) CONCURRENT WARS.—If more than one war oc21 curs concurrently, the Secretary shall establish a separate 

22 trust fund under subsection (a) for each such war. 

23 ‘‘(d) REPORTS.—(1) Not later than 30 days after the 

24 Secretary first makes a withdrawal from a trust fund es25 tablished under this section, and every 30 days thereafter 

26 until the Secretary makes the final withdrawal from the 


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1 fund, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on 

2 Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and House of Representa3 tives, the Committee on Finance of the Senate, and the 

4 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep5 resentatives a report describing the intended use of the 

6 amounts withdrawn from the fund during the period cov7 ered by the report. 

8 ‘‘(2) For any fiscal year during which the Secretary 

9 makes a withdrawal from a fund established under this 

10 section, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

11 conduct an audit of the consolidated financial statements 

12 relating to the fund, as prepared by the Department of 

13 the Treasury. Not later than 30 days after the last day 

14 of such a fiscal year, the Comptroller General shall submit 

15 to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and 

16 House of Representatives, the Committee on Finance of 

17 the Senate, and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

18 the House of Representatives a report containing the re19 sults of the audit. 

20 ‘‘(e) WAR DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘war’ 

21 means any use of the Armed Forces pursuant to any of 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) A war conducted pursuant to a declaration 

24 of war by Congress. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The War Powers Resolution (Public Law 

2 93–148; 50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.). 

3 ‘‘(3) The Authorization for Use of Military 

4 Force (Public Law 107–40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note). 

5 ‘‘(4) Any other authorization for use of military 

6 force enacted on or after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act.’’. 

8 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

9 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following new item: 

‘‘119. War trust funds.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. WAR TAX. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 1 of the 

13 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

14 after part VI the following new part: 

15 ‘‘PART VII—WAR TAX 

‘‘Sec. 59A. War tax. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 59A. WAR TAX. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a covered indi18 vidual, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other 

19 tax imposed by this subtitle) with respect to each war oc20 curring at any time during the taxable year a tax deter21 mined under the following table: 

‘‘If adjusted gross income of the 

taxpayer is: The tax is: 

Less than $30,000 ............................................................................. $25

At least $30,000 but less than $40,000 ............................................ $57

At least $40,000 but less than $50,000 ............................................ $98


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‘‘If adjusted gross income of the 

taxpayer is: The tax is: 

At least $50,000 but less than $75,000 ............................................ $164

At least $75,000 but less than $100,000 .......................................... $270

At least $100,000 but less than $200,000 ........................................ $485

At least $200,000 .............................................................................. $1,000. 

1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur2 poses of this section— 

3 ‘‘(1) WAR.—The term ‘war’ means any use of 

4 the Armed Forces pursuant to any of the following: 

5 ‘‘(A) A war conducted pursuant to a dec6 laration of war by Congress. 

7 ‘‘(B) The War Powers Resolution (Public 

8 Law 93–148; 50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.). 

9 ‘‘(C) The Authorization for Use of Military 

10 Force (Public Law 107–40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 

11 note). 

12 ‘‘(D) Any other authorization for use of 

13 military force enacted on or after the date of 

14 the enactment of this Act. 

15 ‘‘(2) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov16 ered individual’ means any individual who has not 

17 served on active duty in the Armed Forces of the 

18 United States. 

19 ‘‘(3) ENUMERATION OF WARS.—The Secretary 

20 shall in forms and guidance enumerate each war 

21 with respect to which a tax is imposed by subsection 

22 (a) for any taxable year. 


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1 ‘‘(c) NOT TREATED AS TAX IMPOSED BY THIS CHAP2 TER FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES.—The tax imposed under 

3 this section shall not be treated as tax imposed by this 

4 chapter for purposes of determining the amount of any 

5 credit under this chapter or for purposes of section 55.’’. 

6 (b) SECTION 15 NOT TO APPLY.—The amendment 

7 made by subsection (a) shall not be treated as a change 

8 in a rate of tax for purposes of section 15 of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986. 

10 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of parts for 

11 subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 

12 inserting after the item relating to part VI the following 

13 new item: 

‘‘PART VII—WAR TAX’’. 

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

16 December 31, 2016. 

Æ 


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