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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 31, 1995                   TAG: 9503310087
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

RETIREES, YOUR CHECKS REALLY ARE IN THE MAIL

Stop fretting, all you federal retirees whose pensions were taxed illegally. The government has a message: the check's in the mail.

They mean it. Gov. George Allen announced Thursday that the first settlement checks reimbursing some 150,000 illegally taxed retirees will be mailed today.

Virginia was one of several states that taxed federal retirement benefits while exempting benefits of state employees, a practice ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1989.

More than 90 percent of Virginia's federal retirees accepted the state's offer to settle the ongoing litigation. Those who accepted the settlement will share $60.34 million this year, with subsequent payments scheduled each March 31 through 1999.

About 54,000 retirees will be mailed their full settlement payment today.

by CNB