NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6058
SPONSOR: Fitzpatrick (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to veterans
alternative exemption
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establish a real property tax exemption for service-connected disa-
bled veterans.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one of the bill amends § 458-a of the Real Property Tax Law to
define a veteran as someone who served in the active military, naval, or
air service for a period of more than one hundred eighty days and
received a compensation rating of sixty percent or greater, from the
United States Veterans' administration or from the United States Depart-
ment of Defense because of a service-connected disability.
Section 2: Defines the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the New York State Division of Veterans' Services and the
United States Veterans' administration there are 117,457 disabled veter-
ans living in New York State who have been assigned compensation rating
of sixty percent or greater. The sixty percent figure is significant
because this is the rating where the federal government determines a
disability to render the veteran unable to obtain employment. As a prac-
tical matter, they are one hundred percent disabled.
Current law only allows for a real property tax exemption for disabled
veterans who served "during a period of war," which is defined to mean
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama and the first Gulf War.
However, neither the Veterans' Administration nor the Division of Veter-
ans' Affairs could separate those veterans disabled during peace time
from those disabled during a period of war within the 117,457 figure
stated above. As a result, the universe of potential beneficiaries of
this legislation would be the original 117,457, significantly reduced by
those veterans disabled, during war time, and further reduced by those
disabled veterans who do not own their own home. While it has tradi-
tionally been the policy of this state to confer most veterans' benefits
on those veterans who served during a time of war, this legislation
argues that this is one instance where an exception is warranted. It is
sufficiently narrow to prevent abuse and sufficiently targeted to justi-
fy the argument that for those veterans who can no longer be self-sup-
porting, a real property tax exemption on their home is a reasonable way
to appreciate their service.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2024- A4362 - Referred to Veterans' Affairs
2022- A5571 - Referred to Veterans' Affairs
