ORANJ is once again asking New Jersey CCRCs to provide a count of the number of units occupied by veterans or spouses of deceased veterans. In the 2000-2002 Legislative Session, the first bills were introduced to rectify the fact that veterans and their widowed spouses living in CCRCs were ineligible for the deduction granted by public law because they did not hold title in their names to the property in which they resided and paid the property tax. In this post Gary Baldwin, who has spearheaded this effort since the beginning, explains what has happened in the past and what needs to happen now.
Veterans Exemption Bills by Gary Baldwin
ORANJ is currently conducting a survey to obtain an up-to-date estimate of the number of Independent Living units within the CCRCs across the state that are occupied by veterans or spouses of deceased veterans. The veteran’s exemption bills have been re-introduced in both bodies of the current legislature as S-514 and A-1481. Neither bill has as yet been posted for discussion and vote in their respective legislative committees. In previous legislative sessions identical bills have been unopposed during committee voting; however, the legislative budget committee is presumed to have stopped the movement of the bill(s) because of the financial impact on the State Budget. A new survey is being conducted by ORANJ to obtain a current estimate of the number of Independent Living units within the CCRCs across the state that are occupied by veterans or spouses of deceased veterans. The last survey was conducted in 2008 and the current survey will provide a more realistic estimate of the financial impact of this legislation.
In October, 2003 the Office of Legislative Services was asked to provide an estimate of what the impact would be on the budget if the veterans bills were approved and the public law changed to include veterans living in CCRCs. Legislative Services concurred with a cost estimate provided by the Division of Taxation in the Department of Treasury, based on a methodology used by the Division to generate the cost estimate. No other information was made available to the Division of Taxation for use in generating the cost estimate. The cost estimate at that time was inaccurately stated to be approximately $1-million based upon the assumption that approximately 4,000 veterans or widows of deceased veterans were living in CCRCs. Our attempt is to provide the budget committee with an estimate that is far less than the $1-million estimate being used.
Here is the problem we face in getting these bills passed in the legislature. NJ Public Law requires a constitutional amendment to allow a veterans or a widow of a deceased veteran living in a CCRC to participate in the tax deduction accorded a veteran property owner living in private home. In 1963, the public law (Section 2 of P.L. 1963, c.171) authorized a small reduction in taxes for veterans serving on active duty during time of war. The law predated the proliferation of CCRCs in the state and therefore did not recognize the intricacies of how taxes are paid by residents in CCRCs. The law neglected to recognize that in a CCRC, an apartment/unit owner does not hold title to the property in his/her name on the town tax roles, as is implied in the law. In reality, CCRC management pays the aggregate tax bill, then passes the tax burden on to those who occupy a residential unit as part of the monthly “fee” for that unit. Residents are given a statement at the end of the year indicating exactly how much the occupant paid on the unit as local property tax for that year. All seniors living in CCRCs, to include veterans, are eligible for the Governor’s tax rebate as they are considered owners of the units they occupy.
In the 207th Legislature, the 2000-2002 Legislative Session, the first bills were introduced to rectify the fact that veterans and their widowed spouses living in CCRCs were ineligible for the deduction granted by public law because they did not hold title in their names to the property in which they resided and paid the property tax. In 2001 the bills were introduced in both bodies of the 207th Legislature and have been re-introduced in every Legislative Session since. ORANJ has invested well over a decade of intensive effort to see the veterans exemption bills become law. The 217th Legislature of the State of New Jersey has an opportunity to support its veteran population by completing the legislative process needed to halt the discriminatory manner in which the town tax deduction is applied to veterans living in CCRCs. All ORANJ Independent Living residents who are veterans or spouses of deceased veterans should verify with their RAC presidents that they have been included in this survey.