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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 20, 2019 11:57 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Ryan E. Mackenzie and Rep. Mark M. Gillen, Rep. Chris Sainato |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Disabled Veterans Real Estate Tax Exemption Legislation |
| In the near future we will be introducing legislation to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution regarding the real estate tax exemption for our disabled veterans. Current Pennsylvania law provides that a disabled veteran in our state may receive a full property tax exemption on their primary residence if the veteran is 100% disabled as a result of wartime service and proves to be in need of financial assistance. Our legislation will remove the injury due to wartime service provision for disabled veterans to receive the exemption. This property tax exemption would be applied to all veterans who are declared or rated 100% disabled by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for an injury or disease related to their service. The Pennsylvania State Veterans’ Commission would be charged with determining which individuals are in need of this financial assistance. This bill will also provide that the surviving spouse of a member of the United States armed forces who is killed in action, or who died as a result of injuries received during active service, shall be exempt from the payment of all real estate property taxes at their place of primary residence. The spouse and armed forces member do not need to be residents of Pennsylvania at the time of death and there would be no restriction on the surviving spouse’s relocation within the Commonwealth to receive the exemption as long as the State Veterans’ Commission continues to determine the spouse is in need of this financial assistance. If the surviving spouse remarries, the exemption ends. And finally, our legislation will create a process for disabled veterans to receive a prorated property tax assessment during the year they have been approved for the disabled veterans’ real estate tax exemption. Any tax assessment on a property owned by a disabled veteran would be required to be prorated from the date an eligible applicant files for the exemption with the State Veterans’ Commission. Please join me us cosponsoring this important piece of legislation to provide some financial security for disabled veterans in Pennsylvania. |
Introduced as HB1570