GOP lawmaker looks to ease tax burden on families of fallen soldiers

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would let families avoid taxes in cases where student loan debt is forgiven for a fallen member of the U.S. Armed Forces. His Andrew P. Carpenter Tax Act, H.R. 5044, is named after Lance Cpl. Carpenter, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. All of Carpenter's student loan debt was forgiven after his death, but because forgiven debt is counted as income by the government, Carpenter's family faced a tax on that income.