Dear Senator Boxer,

After thirty years of service I am a retired Sergeant of Police from the City of Los Angeles (ret 2004). My pension and the pensions of the other thirteen thousand retired members of the Police and Firefighters of Los Angeles disqualified us from receiving an economic Stimulus payment from the IRS for the 2007 tax year. Because we had pensions from the City of Los Angeles, our pensions were not included as qualified for the payment. They were excluded from the list of qualifying income sources used by the IRS in the language of the legislation.

I am not objecting for my self alone but for all of the members of the class of pensioners that make up the bulk of the American work force. We were taxed during our working years and we are still taxed during our retirement years and the bulk of all revenues used by the United states government is provided by this class of workers. Yet when the economic Stimulus package was defined, we were excluded even though is was largely our tax funds that were given to other laborers and pensioners who had qualifying income from other types of pensions. It is frightening to know that the pensions of retired military personnel, any local, state or federal civil service personnel and who knows the countless other pension types were disqualified.

Here is another shocker: consider all of the employees of any public school district in California. Now take all of the unqualified pensions from pensioners in all of the other 49 states and answer this. Just who "Stimulated" the economy? Who got "Stimulated."

Do not think for a minute that any member of the disqualified class in the work force is pleased by this situation. Who approved the Stimulus package as it was written? That would be the House of Representatives and the Senate. Can this be fixed for the 2008 tax season? In part, it is your responsibility to set up a squawk in congress and your co-conspirators, er…I mean colleagues must fix this. …and stop discriminating against this large (majority) class of the workforce.

Very truly yours,

Bruce A. Cowan