ASSEMBLY, No. 2552
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
INTRODUCED DECEMBER 16, 1996
By Assemblyman WISNIEWSKI
An Act concerning certain personal property tax exemptions for the surviving spouses of certain veterans and amending P.L.1948, c.259.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30) is amended to read as follows:
1. a. The dwelling house and the lot or curtilage whereon the same is erected, of any citizen and resident of this State, now or hereafter honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances, from active service, in time of war, in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, who has been or shall be declared by the United States Veterans Administration or its successor to have a service-connected disability from paraplegia, sarcoidosis, osteochondritis resulting in permanent loss of the use of both legs, or permanent paralysis of both legs and lower parts of the body, or from hemiplegia and has permanent paralysis of one leg and one arm or either side of the body, resulting from injury to the spinal cord, skeletal structure, or brain or from disease of the spinal cord not resulting from any form of syphilis; or from total blindness; or from amputation of both arms or both legs, or both hands or both feet, or the combination of a hand and a foot; or from other service-connected disability declared by the United States Veterans Administration or its successor to be a total or 100% permanent disability, and not so evaluated solely because of hospitalization or surgery and recuperation, sustained through enemy action, or accident, or resulting from disease contracted while in such active service, shall be exempt from taxation, on proper claim made therefor, and such exemption shall be in addition to any other exemption of such person's real and personal property which now is or hereafter shall be prescribed or allowed by the Constitution or by law but no taxpayer shall be allowed more than one exemption under this act.
b. (1) The surviving spouse of any such citizen and resident of this State, who at the time of death was entitled to the exemption provided under this act, shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to the same exemption as the deceased had, during the surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the legal owner thereof and actually occupies the said dwelling house or any other dwelling house thereafter acquired.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection to the contrary, the surviving spouse of any such citizen and resident of this State who at the time of death had a condition that, subsequent to the death thereof, is determined by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs or its successor to constitute a total or 100% permanent disability, shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to the exemption from taxation provided for in subsection a. of this section during the surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the legal owner thereof and actually occupies the dwelling house or any other dwelling house thereafter acquired.
c. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State, who died in active service in time of war in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to an exemption from taxation on the dwelling house and lot or curtilage whereon the same is erected, during the surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the legal owner thereof and actually occupies the said dwelling or any other dwelling house thereafter acquired.
d. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who died prior to January 10, 1972, that being the effective date of P.L. 1971, c. 398, and whose circumstances were such that, had said law become effective during the deceased's lifetime, the deceased would have become eligible for the exemption granted under this section as amended by said law, shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to the same exemption as the deceased would have become eligible for upon the dwelling house and lot or curtilage occupied by the deceased at the time of death, during the surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the legal owner thereof and actually occupies the said dwelling house on the premises to be exempted.
e. Nothing in this act shall be intended to include paraplegia or hemiplegia resulting from locomotor ataxia or other forms of syphilis of the central nervous system, or from chronic alcoholism, or to include other forms of disease resulting from the veteran's own misconduct which may produce signs and symptoms similar to those resulting from paraplegia, osteochondritis, or hemiplegia.
(cf: P.L.1985, c.515, s.2)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill broadens the criteria, under certain circumstances, for eligibility for the total exemption from personal property taxes for the surviving spouse of certain veterans.
Specifically, the bill provides that the surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State, who served in the armed forces of the United States in time of war and was honorably discharged and who at the time of death had a condition that, subsequent to the death thereof, is determined by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs or its successor to constitute a total or 100% permanent disability, shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to the total personal property tax exemption during the surviving spouse's widowhood or widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, for the time that the surviving spouse is the legal owner thereof and actually occupies the dwelling house or any other dwelling house thereafter acquired.
Under current law, only the surviving spouse of a veteran who has been declared totally disabled by the federal government at the time of death is entitled to the total personal property tax exemption.
Broadens the criteria, under certain circumstances, for eligibility for total exemption from personal property taxes for the surviving spouses of certain veterans.