Thompson: Fire victims should not be taxed

Congressman releases statement explaining status of the bill

Congressman Mike Thompson, D-Yolo, released a statement explaining that his bill to exempt PG&E Fire Victims Trust settlements from taxes is awaiting a vote on the House floor.

“Wildfire survivors who received settlements from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust should not have to pay taxes on their payments,” Thompson emphasized in a press release. “Not only is this wrong, it's unfair.”

In October, Thompson pushed for the tax deadline extension to November for more time to get his legislation passed in the House, through the Senate and signed into law by President Biden.

However, he has so far been unsuccessful in doing so even though the bill passed the Ways and Means Committee with a unanimous 38-0 vote.

“The only reason that this bill is not already law is because of Senate Republicans blocking it at the 11th hour last year,” Thompson explained. “I am doing everything possible to get this bill signed into law this year, but the truth of the matter is that we need a tax package for this bill to move. I will not stop working on this until wildfire survivors get the tax relief they deserve.”

Thompson reintroduced the bill in January to exempt thousands of fire victims receiving compensation from the trust from having to pay federal income tax on settlement money or attorney fees. He argued then that “fire survivors have been through hell in the wake of losing their homes and livelihoods to wildfires and should not be taxed on the settlements” from the trust.

The Fire Victim Trust was established in 2020 and reviews claims, issues determination notices daily and disburses payments twice monthly to fire victims for economic and non-economic damages caused by the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay and 2018 Camp fires, according to the trust's website. This includes destruction or damage to property, additional living expenses, lost wages, business losses, emotional distress and more.

The website noted that $18.85 billion has been awarded in determination notices and $10.81 billion has been paid to claimants as of Nov. 30.

To learn more and for the latest updates, visit firevictimtrust.com.