Bill: Send your ashes to space, get a tax break

While scripture says it's hard for a rich man to get into Heaven, Virginia may be able to help discount the expense for people who want to blast their remains into the hereafter.

Del. Terry Kilgore has introduced legislation that would provide a tax credit of up to $8,000 for those whose mortuary arrangements involve booking passage for their cremated remains aboard a commercial space flight to send them into Earth or lunar orbit.

In a brief interview Thursday, Kilgore, R-Scott County, said he submitted the bill on behalf of commercial space flight advocates.

Boosting that industry has been a goal for Gov. Bob McDonnell, who last month proposed increased state support for the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority to benefit the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island.

It wasn't immediately clear Thursday how much it costs to send an urn into the great beyond. Efforts to reach regional spaceport officials for comment about the bill weren't successful.

-- Julian Walker

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