Nationwide law enforcement officers could see a tax incentive for their long-term commitment to service if a new bipartisan House bill gains traction.
Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) introduced a bill on Friday aimed at increasing law enforcement retention at state, local, and federal levels. The bill as drafted rewards officers who have spent five years in law enforcement with a federal tax exemption on the first $100,000 of their ordinary income.
“If we want safe communities, we must value those who protect them,” Fitzpatrick said in a press conference. “If we want strong departments, we must help officers build careers, not just start jobs. And if we want the next generation to serve, we must prove that service is met with support.”
The legislation, dubbed the Fuel the Force Act, grew from Fitzpatrick’s work with Christina Nelson, a constituent in Fitzpatrick’s PA-01 district and founder of Fuel the Force — a nonprofit organization that works to give back and support police officers. The two began talking in 2022 about ways to increase retention and recruitment rates across law enforcement agencies and developed the proposed bill with the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police and the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.
“The bill is about more than tax policy,” Nelson said. “It’s about respect. It’s about recognition, and it’s about action. Across the country, law enforcement agencies are facing a serious recruitment, retention crisis. Departments are understaffed. Officers are stretched thin, and communities are feeling the impact.”
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Nelson began the Fuel the Force nonprofit organization after years of supporting her local law enforcement by personally buying lunch for police officers who came into the Bucks County Italian market where she works. Nelson said the act also gives financially struggling officers “greater financial security and peace of mind.”
“The Fuel the Force Act is one concrete step we can take right now by increasing take-home pay without adding bureaucracy and unfunded mandates,” Nelson said. “When we retain experienced officers and attract qualified recruits, communities are safer. When departments are fully staffed, response times improve, proactive policing increases, and trust between officers and the communities they serve grows stronger.”
The Ways and Means bill as drafted applies widely to federal, state, and local law enforcement or corrections officers, including police, corrections, probation, parole, school resource, and judicial officers, sheriffs, and deputies.
“This is always going to be a job that requires great sacrifice, but it shouldn’t also come with such a high financial sacrifice for families and law enforcement,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Recruitment and retention for police and law enforcement agencies across the country have fallen for several years, with local departments struggling to retain officers and attract new career service members.
In a 2024 survey of thousands of U.S. police agencies, 70% of surveyed departments have found it more difficult to recruit new officers, operating at about a 10% deficit on average due to recruitment problems, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The same survey showed that resignation is most likely within the first five years of an officer’s hire.
President of the Bucks County Police Chiefs’ Association Joseph C. Bartorilla said, in 1992, he took his final recruiting exam alongside 17,000 other possible officers. Now, Bartorilla said, Philadelphia police get a few hundred officers during recruitment drives. Bartorilla supports the five-year waiting period for the tax incentive outlined in the bill to ensure officers demonstrate a long-term commitment to service.
“It’s a profession. We want career-minded people to take the job,” Bartorilla said.
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FOP Second Vice President John Hoyt voiced his support for the organization for the bill on Friday. He said the order has been working for many years to address the recruitment and retention crises stemming from a “perfect storm” between the COVID-19 pandemic and a new generation entering the workforce with more career options.
“When I was told about this bill, the first thing I thought about is, yes, there’s a financial aspect to it that’s important, but just as important, if not more, is the recognition of the sacrifice of our officers,” Hoyt said. “It’s the support of sacrifice and the recognition of what we do on the streets, day to day.”