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SCR104
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 104
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 24, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� ANTHONY M. BUCCO
District 25 (Morris and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Burgess
SYNOPSIS
���� Proposes constitutional amendment to increase to $500
veterans� property tax deduction.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
A
Concurrent Resolution
proposing to
amend Article VIII, Section I, paragraph 3 of the Constitution of the State of
New Jersey
����
Be It
Resolved
by the Senate of the State of New
Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):
���� 1.� The following proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is agreed to:
PROPOSED
AMENDMENT
���� Amend Article VIII, Section I,
paragraph 3 to read as follows:
���� a.� 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 shall be entitled, annually to a deduction from the amount of any
tax bill for taxes on real and personal property, or both, including taxes
attributable to a residential unit held by a stockholder in a cooperative or
mutual housing corporation in the sum of $250 in each tax year
through 2026
,
or if the amount of any such tax bill shall be less than $250, to a
cancellation thereof.�
Beginning in 2027, the amount of the deduction shall
be $300 in 2027, $350 in 2028, $400 in 2029, $450 in 2030, and $500 in 2031 and
in each year thereafter. �If the amount of any such tax bill in any year shall
be less than the amount of the deduction for that year, the tax bill shall be
cancelled. ��
The deduction or cancellation shall not be altered or
repealed.� Any person hereinabove described who has been or shall be declared
by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or its successor, to have
a service-connected disability, shall be entitled to such further deduction
from taxation as from time to time may be provided by law.� The surviving
spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has met or shall meet his
or her death on active duty in any such service shall be entitled, during her
widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this
State, to the deduction or cancellation in this subsection provided for
honorably discharged veterans and to such further deduction as from time to
time may be provided by law.� The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident
of this State who has had or shall hereafter have active service in any branch
of the Armed Forces of the United States and who died or shall die while on
active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or who has
been or may hereafter be honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the
United States shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as
the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the deduction or
cancellation in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans and
to such further deductions as from time to time may be provided by law.
���� b.��� A continuing care
retirement community shall receive a veterans' property tax deduction on behalf
of eligible veterans.� The amount of the property tax deduction shall be the
dollar amount of the deduction multiplied by the number of eligible veterans receiving
the property tax deduction immediately prior to moving into the continuing care
retirement community.� A person otherwise eligible for the veterans' deduction
who is a resident of a continuing care retirement community shall receive the
amount of the deduction to the extent of the share of the taxes assessed
against the real property of the continuing care retirement community that is
attributable to the unit that the resident occupies.� The continuing care
retirement community shall provide that amount as a payment or credit to the
resident.� That payment or credit shall be made to the resident no later than
30 days after the continuing care retirement community receives the property
tax bill on which the credit appears.� A veterans' property tax deduction shall
not be paid on behalf of any eligible veteran who resides in a continuing care
retirement community that is property tax-exempt.� A resident receiving a
payment or credit pursuant to this subsection shall not receive a veterans'
property tax deduction on any other residence owned in whole or in part by the
resident, or any residence in which the resident's spouse is living.
���� The surviving spouse of any
citizen and resident of this State who has met or shall meet his or her death
on active duty in any such service shall be entitled, during her widowhood or
his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the
deduction in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans.� The
surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has had or shall
hereafter have active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United
States and who died or shall die while on active duty in any branch of the
Armed Forces of the United States, or who has been or may hereafter be
honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active
service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be
entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and
while a resident of this State, to the deduction in this subsection provided
for honorably discharged veterans.
(cf:� Article VIII, Section I,
paragraph 3 amended effective December 3, 2020)
���� 2.��� When this proposed
amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX,
paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the
next general election occurring more than three months after the final
agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of
each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
General Assembly and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior
to the general election.
���� 3.��� This proposed amendment
to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the
following manner and form:
���� There shall be printed on each
official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:
���� a.� In every municipality in
which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede
the question as follows:
���� If you favor the proposition
printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (
a
) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are
opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (
a
) in the square opposite the
word "No."
���� b.� In
every municipality the following question:
CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT TO INCREASE THE PROPERTY TAX DEDUCTION FOR VETERANS
YES
Shall the amendment to Article
VIII, Section I, paragraph 3 of the State Constitution, agreed to by the
Legislature, increasing from $250 to $500 over five years the annual
deduction for veterans from real property taxes, be approved?
INTERPRETIVE
STATEMENT
NO
This proposed constitutional
amendment would increase the veterans' property tax deduction from the
current $250 to: $300 for calendar year 2027, $350 for calendar year 2028,
$400 for calendar year 2029, $450 for calendar year 2030 and $500 for
calendar year 2031 and for each year after that.� The veterans' property tax
deduction provided for in the State Constitution was last increased in 1999.
STATEMENT
���� If approved by the voters of
the State, this proposed constitutional amendment would increase the veterans'
property tax deduction from the current $250 to: $300 in calendar year 2027,
$350 in calendar year 2028, $400 in calendar year 2029, $450 in calendar year
2030 and $500 in calendar year 2031 and for each year thereafter.� The
veterans' property tax deduction provided for in the State Constitution was
last increased in 1999, when the amount of the annual deduction was raised from
$50 to $250 over four years.