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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994                   TAG: 9404260033
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By DAVID REED Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Short

RETIREES SAY SETTLEMENT NOT GOOD ENOUGH

A squadron of angry federal retirees said Thursday that they oppose a plan to settle a lawsuit by refunding half of the state taxes illegally collected from them.

``The commonwealth owes it to us; gentlemen, get it for us,'' retiree Lester Tanner of Lynchburg told members of the House Finance and Appropriations committees.

Attorney General James S. Gilmore III has offered the state's 185,000 federal retirees 50 cents for every dollar that was illegally collected. Gov. George Allen supports the settlement.

The General Assembly delayed a special session on the offer until May 11 to allow more time for input from the public and the illegally taxed federal retirees. Legislators had planned to take up the $234 million settlement offer Monday.

The House committees held public hearings in Lynchburg, Abingdon, Fairfax and Norfolk on Thursday and planned to hold one in Richmond on Friday.

Several federal retirees talked about getting billed for interest and penalties when they paid their state taxes late and many said the state would never accept partial payment if the situation was reversed.

``If I owed the state they would take my car, my shoes, my house or whatever I owned,'' said Alfred T. Farrar, 73, a retired Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration employee from Lynchburg.

by CNB