Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act of 2025

Enumerated powers · passes

Congress has the explicit power to lay and collect taxes under Article I, Section 8, Clause 1. The bill operates entirely within this power by defining what constitutes gross income for federal income tax purposes. It does not regulate disaster mitigation directly; it merely provides a tax exclusion for certain payments, which is a classic exercise of the taxing power. No other enumerated power is needed, and the action does not exceed this authority.

Bill of Rights · passes

The bill does not implicate any of the first ten amendments. It does not restrict speech, religion, assembly, press, petition, arms, quartering, search and seizure, self-incrimination, due process, takings, trial rights, or cruel and unusual punishment. It is a purely beneficial tax provision that leaves all individual rights untouched.

Individual liberty · passes

The bill does not restrict any individual's use of their person, property, speech, labor, or belief. On the contrary, it reduces the tax burden on individuals who receive state mitigation payments, thereby increasing their disposable income and property rights. There is no government-imposed restriction; the burden of justification is not triggered because no restriction exists.

Decentralization · passes

The bill passes all four questions of the decentralization test. (1) Individuals can handle disaster mitigation without government, but the bill does not require government involvement; it merely provides a tax benefit. (2) Local communities and states can and do establish catastrophe loss mitigation programs; the bill explicitly defers to state-established programs, not federal ones. (3) States can handle this without federal involvement, and the bill respects that by not creating a federal program. (4) The bill does not consolidate decision-making upward; it actually supports state-level decision-making by making federal tax law conform to state programs. The Tenth Amendment is respected because the bill does not commandeer state governments or regulate state activities.

Due process and takings · passes

The bill does not deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process. It does not impose any penalty or take any property. The exclusion from gross income is a benefit, not a burden. There is no procedural or substantive due process concern, and no takings issue arises because the government is not taking property; it is simply declining to tax certain payments.