Missouri failed disabled veterans for the 8th year running | Opinion

Northwest Missouri is in my blood.

I was born in St. Joseph, moved to Liberty at 11, and joined the Army straight out of high school. My family’s connection to Missouri and military service runs deep, stretching back to the Union’s 5th Missouri Cavalry in the Civil War. My grandfather, a Desert Storm and Desert Shield veteran, retired from Rosecrans Air National Guard Base, where my brother serves today. Others in my family served in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Korea. A second cousin is a Navy pilot, and a great uncle served aboard a nuclear submarine.

Service is our tradition.

I carried that tradition forward as an Army explosive ordnance disposal technician in Afghanistan. And like so many who serve, I did not come home the same person I left.

I used the Post-9/11 GI Bill to earn my nursing degree in Texas, and worked in one of the busiest emergency rooms in the country. But my goal was always to come home. In January, I returned to Missouri to raise my newborn son near the place that raised me.

Coming home, however, came at a cost.

Texas provides full property tax exemption for 100% disabled veterans. So do many other states. Missouri does not. Here, we pay both income tax and property tax. We are billed for the privilege of living on the land we fought to defend.

House Joint Resolution 115 in Jefferson City would change that. It proposes a constitutional amendment to exempt 100% disabled veterans from property taxes. Under current Missouri law, there is a benefit is so restrictive as to be nearly meaningless, requiring a veteran to be both 100% disabled and a former prisoner of war to qualify.

This year, it seemed like something might finally change. The legislation passed the Missouri House with overwhelming bipartisan support, 152-to-2. Last year, a similar proposal passed the Senate 32-to-0. There is no meaningful policy opposition to this bill. There is only a political one.

Today, I work as an intensive care unit nurse in St. Joseph. I care for patients at their most vulnerable, and many of them are veterans. What I see, over and over, is a deep and earned distrust of “the system.” These are men and women who upheld their end of the bargain. When they watch legislation like H.J.R. 115 stall year after year, that distrust is reinforced.

Since moving back to Missouri in January, I have tried to engage as a constituent. I first reached out to my state senator in early January. I followed up multiple times that month and received no response. Not a conversation. Not an acknowledgment.

In May, as H.J.R. 115 sat in committee, I broadened my outreach to members of the Senate Select Committee on Property Taxes. Again, I made calls and sent emails. Again, silence.

On April 21, H.J.R. 115 was referred to that committee. Since then, there has been no movement. As the legislative session ended last week, Missouri failed its disabled veterans for the eighth consecutive year.

This is not gridlock. It is a choice.

When a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support is left to die in committee, it is not because it could not pass. It is because it was never allowed to. Meanwhile, many disabled veterans live on fixed incomes. Rising property taxes are not an inconvenience. They are a threat to stability, and in some cases, to housing itself.

Neighboring states are expanding protections for their most vulnerable veterans. Missouri is standing still. As this session ended without action, the message was clear: Thank you for your service, but please don’t ask us to serve you.

Jonathan Thompson is an Army veteran and registered nurse working in both emergency room and intensive care unit settings.