A United States Assemblyman on Tuesday, November 15, called on President Joe Biden to officially designate Kenya as a combat zone.
According to Assemblyman Robert Smullen, the declaration of Kenya as a combat zone will help prevent the taxation of New York’s combat soldiers stationed in Kenya as part of the “Fighting 69th” Infantry.
Under current United States tax regulations, military members are exempt from federal, state, and local taxes while serving abroad in designated combat zones.
Therefore, if the Biden administration declares Kenya a combat zone, the Kenyan government will be barred from taxing the U.S. soldiers who are stationed in Kenya.
“I am calling on the Biden administration to designate Kenya as a combat zone without delay so that our nation’s heroes receive the tax benefits they are entitled to,” Smullen told the House of Representatives in the United States.
According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a “combat zone(s)” includes all hostile areas where military may serve including actual combat areas, direct combat support areas, and qualified hazardous duty areas.
The IRS is the American equivalent of the Kenya Revenue Authority and is responsible for collecting taxes.
The United States Army National Guard deployed about 1,000 soldiers to the Horn of Africa in September, 2022 in an effort to defeat the al-Qaeda-allied Al Shabaab terror group.
United States Troops serving in Somalia are stationed at Manda Bay in Lamu County.
The Manda Bay base, in the Kenyan seaside resort, was overrun by 30 to 40 al-Qaida-linked insurgents on January 5, 2020, marking Al-Shabab's first attack against U.S. forces in the East African country.
The pre-dawn assault triggered a lengthy firefight and daylong struggle for U.S. and Kenyan forces to search and secure the base.
