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Allow spouses to choose

Service members can claim state residence in any state in which they are permanently assigned during a military career, for as long as they stay in uniform and no matter how many subsequent permanent change-of-station moves they make.

Unfortunately, the same is not true for their spouses.

Now the Senate appears poised to fix that incongruity, including a measure in its version of the 2010 defense authorization bill that allows spouses to choose the same permanent state of residence as their sponsoring service member.

The main appeal of this benefit is tax savings. Nine states have no state income tax, including military-heavy Texas, Florida, Alaska and Washington. Any member who gets stationed in those states can adopt that state as home and pay no state income tax for the rest of his military career. The savings can be as much as 8 percent of income annually.

The ability to maintain state residency also eliminates the hassle of re-registering to vote in a new local jurisdiction and the time and expense of obtaining a new driver’s license and vehicle registration after each PCS move.

This benefit exists because the government recognizes that the military uproots and moves service members every few years according to its needs.

But the moves of spouses accompanying their military sponsors on PCS orders are no less involuntary. Granting them the same state residency benefit would patch a large hole in the military’s family support net.

House lawmakers will have to sign off on the Senate’s plan before it could become law.

They should — adopting the new state residency benefit for spouses should be automatic.