Public Employee Press

Union honors Congress member Charles Rangel

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and legal services leader Joan L. Beranbaum honored Congress member Charles B. Rangel July 23 at his Harlem office for his years of support for tax exemptions for legal services plans.

Beranbaum is Director and Chief Counsel of DC 37’s Municipal Employees Legal Services and president-elect of the American Prepaid Legal Services Institute. “I know how important legal services are, especially to union members,” said Rangel. Many labor unions nationwide have prepaid legal services plans, and DC 37’s MELS is one of the oldest and largest plans in the country. MELS provides free lawyers to union members to assist with a wide range of civil matters.

Section 120 of the Internal Revenue Code, which exempted contributions to legal services plans from taxation, was enacted in 1976 and eliminated in 1992. Since then many of the prepaid programs have been forced to cut back and members must pay income tax on the contribution to the plan whether or not they use the benefit.

“The tax burden on members and on the union makes this a more expensive benefit than it need be,” said Roberts.

“Re-enacting Section 120 has been a priority for DC 37 and API for many years,” said Beranbaum. “We are grateful that Congressman Rangel is so supportive of the bill, which would save money for the Health and Security Plan and our members and make prepaid plans more affordable for working people.”

“I’ll make certain that Section 120 gets back in the budget,” promised Rangel, who became chair of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee after the Democrats regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006.