Read the full stored bill text
A1150
ASSEMBLY, No. 1150
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman JOE DANIELSEN
District 17 (Middlesex and Somerset)
SYNOPSIS
���� Authorizes proportional property tax exemption for
honorably discharged veterans having a service-connected disability and
requires State to reimburse municipalities for cost of exemption.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.
��
An Act
providing a proportional property tax exemption to
certain veterans having a service-connected disability, amending P.L.1948,
c.259, and supplementing chapter 4 of Title 54 of the Revised Statutes.
����
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 any branch of the Armed Forces
of the United States, who has been or shall be declared by the United States
Department of Veterans' Affairs 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
]
of at least 25 percent
, shall be exempt from taxation, on proper claim
made therefor,
in proportion to their percentage of service-connected
disability, up to and including a total or 100 percent disability,
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.�
In the case of a resident of this State with a
service-connected disability that is less than total or 100 percent disability
but who is deemed by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs or its
successor to be unemployable as a result of service-connected disability, the
exemption shall be 100 percent.� For any exemption granted pursuant to this
subsection that is less than 100 percent, the exemption shall not exceed
$15,000.
���� 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)�� The surviving spouse of
any citizen and resident of this State who was honorably discharged and, after
the citizen and resident's death, is declared to have suffered a
service-connected disability as provided in subsection a. of this section,
shall be entitled, on proper claim made therefor, to the same exemption the
deceased would have become eligible for.� The exemption shall continue 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 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
]
(Deleted
by amendment, P.L.��� , c.������� ) pending before the Legislature as this
bill)
.
(cf: P.L.2019, c.413, s.1)
���� 2.��� (New section) The State
shall annually reimburse each taxing district in an amount equal to 102 percent
of the amount of any property tax exemption granted by that taxing district pursuant
to section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30) in that taxing district.
���� 3.��� (New section) �a.� On or
before June 1 of each year, each tax assessor shall certify to the county tax
board the number of property tax exemptions provided pursuant to section 1 of
P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30), and the total amount of all such exemptions.
���� b.��� On or before June 15 of
each year, each county board of taxation shall, on a form prescribed by the
Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury, certify
to the director the following:
���� (1)�� the number of property
tax exemptions allowed pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30)
for the current year;
���� (2)�� the total dollar amount
of property tax exemptions allowed pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259
(C.54:4-3.30) for the current year;
���� (3)�� the number and dollar
amount of property tax exemptions allowed or disallowed, as certified by the
tax collector, pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30), from the
time of certification made the previous year and prior to certification for the
current year; and
���� (4)�� the totals for (1), (2),
and (3) above by district and for the county as a whole.
���� 4.��� (New section) For each
year, each county board of taxation shall include in the table of aggregates
prepared pursuant to R.S.54:4-52 the full estimated amount of the property tax
exemptions as provided in section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259
(C.54:4-3.30), but that amount shall not be included in the total on which the
tax rate is to be computed.
���� 5.��� (New section) The
Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of the Treasury may
inspect all records in the office of the collector and the assessor with
respect to claims and allowances for the property tax exemption provided in
section 1 of P.L.1948, c.259 (C.54:4-3.30).
���� 6.��� This act shall take
effect January 1 next following enactment.
STATEMENT
���� The bill grants a property tax
exemption to honorably discharged veterans having a service-connected
disability in proportion to their disability percentage rating.� The exemption
is granted to those with a disability percentage rating of at least 25 percent,
and the exemption is capped at $15,000.� Those with a 100 percent disability
percentage rating would still be allowed a 100 percent property tax exemption
without a cap, as is the case under current law.
���� In addition, the bill grants
those honorably discharged veterans having less than a 100 percent
service-connected disability, but who are unemployable, a 100 percent property
tax exemption, which matches the current 100 percent property tax exemption for
honorably discharged veterans having a 100 percent disability percentage
rating.
���� As under current law, the bill
allows the property tax exemption to extend to the surviving spouse of a
veteran.
���� The bill eliminates all
references to medical conditions so that any service-connected disability, as
determined by the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs, will make a
veteran eligible for the property tax exemption.
���� Finally, the bill requires the
State to annually reimburse taxing districts, including for administrative
costs, for the property tax exemptions granted to disabled veterans and their
surviving spouses.� The bill includes reporting provisions so proper reimbursement
can be made.