WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE — AND WHY

Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is being wrongly treated as income by many state courts, despite clear federal guidance stating otherwise:

The IRS does not tax BAH
The Department of Defense defines BAH as a housing allowance, not discretionary income
The NDAA assigns BAH for one purpose only — housing the service member

Yet states continue to misclassify it as income for child support, forcing service members to pay rent for two homes — one they don’t live in, and one they can barely afford.

This is not support — this is financial abuse of the soldier.

WHY IT’S DANGEROUS

From the DoD Annual Suicide Report (2023):

Divorced service members have nearly double the suicide rate of married ones

Divorced: 45.1 per 100,000
Married: 25.7 per 100,000

Financial hardship and custody stress are common contributing factors
The system currently has no protection against courts draining non-taxable housing benefits from service members
These numbers have likely increased going into 2025-2026 year!

WHAT MUST BE DONE

Federal child support law must exclude BAH from income calculations
Congress must clarify BAH is not “in-kind income” for external support
States must be prevented from overriding federal military compensation definitions
NDAA or Title 42 USC must be amended to stop this misclassification permanently

PROTECT YOUR SOLDIERS!

Bottom Line:

This isn’t about avoiding support. It’s about stopping a quiet form of financial exploitation that pushes military members to the edge.

It’s time to protect BAH — and protect the soldiers it was meant to house.