Temecula Lawmaker's Bill To Help Military Veterans Advances

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - A Riverside County lawmaker's bill seeking to cap property taxes for many military veterans over 65 years old and exempt disabled vets from being taxed altogether is on its way to the state Senate for a vote.

On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 364, the Veterans Tax Relief Bill, introduced by Sen. Jeff Stone, R- La Quinta.

``Many veterans who are, or will soon become, senior citizens served America during the Vietnam and Korean wars -- a time when our nation often did not show these men and women the respect they deserved," Stone said. ``As these men and women become senior citizens, the least we can do is offer them the financial stability to allow them to stay in their homes, which this legislation provides."

The proposal is expected to be taken up by the full Senate before the end of the month.

Under the bill, which replicates Stone's SB 1104, a 2016 measure that died in committee, the annual inflation factor on assessed valuations of qualifying veterans' homes would be frozen. To receive the freeze, a veteran would need to be 65, honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Services and earning less than $50,000 a year if single, or $100,000 annually if married.

Under Proposition 13, houses, condominiums and other properties can be re-assessed at a maximum rate of 2 percent annually, and the maximum yearly tax is 1 percent of base valuation.

The proposed freeze would take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, after which qualifying residents would only pay property taxes at the rate in effect for their homes prior to the change in the law, which would apply exclusively to primary residences, not investment or vacation properties.

The bill also seeks to expand the state's disabled veterans exemption, enabling blind vets, or those who have lost limbs or suffered any similar incapacitating injury stemming from military service, to be free of paying any property taxes.

According to the California Board of Equalization, under existing law, disabled veterans can apply for an exemption on $150,000 of the assessed value of their principal residence. However, only vets earning less than $40,000 a year are eligible for that. Vets with annual salaries over that amount can only receive an exemption on the first $100,000 of their assessed value.

SB 364 would institute a blanket exemption, beginning Jan. 1, 2020.

The BOE estimated that the measure would potentially benefit 87,268 residents, including 48,829 already receiving the disabled vets' exemption.

Veteran-owned homes that qualify for the freeze would number roughly 330,000, according to the agency.

— By City News Service