MILITARY TAX PROTECTION IS UPHELD

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993                   TAG: 9304010131
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
MILITARY TAX PROTECTION IS UPHELD
Active military personnel are protected from seizure of their property for unpaid taxes, regardless of the reason they failed to pay, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
Federal law is "unambiguous, unequivocal and unlimited" in granting such protection to active service members, the court said in ruling unanimously for an Army colonel whose property was seized by a Maine town.
Army Col. Thomas F. Conroy challenged the seizure by Danforth, Maine, of 96 acres he owned.
A state judge and a Maine appellate court ruled against Conroy, saying the law requires him to prove his military service caused a hardship that kept him from paying taxes.
The Supreme Court reversed those rulings. The law says nothing about requiring a service member to prove hardship to avoid property seizures, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB