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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 8, 2014 12:54 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Steve Samuelson |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-sponsorship – Increase in Property Tax and Rent Rebate exemption (Former H.B. 2396) |
| In the near future, I plan to reintroduce legislation amending the Taxpayer Relief Act of 2006 to increase the exemption for total death benefits from $5,000 to $10,000 when calculating income eligibility for the Property Tax/Rent Rebate program. This $5,000 exemption was established more than 40 years ago when the cost of an average funeral was approximately $983. Since then, that average has increased more than six-fold to approximately $6,550, not including the cost of a burial site or monument. Many senior citizens utilize a modest life insurance payment upon the death of a loved one to cover funeral services and other expenses. As you can see by these figures, it would take a policy well in excess of $5,000 to cover those costs. However, with the existing exemption in the PTRR program, any life insurance payment over $5,000 would count towards a person's income and could put a surviving spouse over the PTRR income limits in the year that the life insurance payment was received. This bill would increase the PTRR death benefit exemption from $5,000 to $10,000. Act 27 of 2003 increased the life insurance exemption for the PACE program from $5,000 to $10,000. According to the Department of Aging, between 3,000 and 5,000 PACE enrollees benefited from that change. |
Introduced as HB421