Bills would waive property taxes for permanently disabled veterans | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Theresa Opeka.

    Two similar bills that would give a full property tax waiver for permanently disabled veterans were filed in the North Carolina House and Senate this week.

    S.B. 821, sponsored by Sen. Sarah Crawford, D-Wake, and H.B. 1076, sponsored by Rep. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, were filed on May 26. Both are known as the Disabled Veterans Property Tax Waiver.

    Bill sponsors say the final legislation would replace the current disabled veteran homestead exemption that exempts the first $45,000 of assessed real property value, and would instead waive their entire property tax bill. Requirements would remain the same, including that the property owner must be a veteran of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces with an honorable discharge, must have a permanent and total service-connected disability of 100% or Rated Permanently Individually Unemployable by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, or must be in receipt of Dependents Indemnity Compensation, also known as the Survivors Pension as a surviving spouse.

    In 2017, a similar bill was filed by former Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake.

    "We're looking for opportunities to honor the service, honor the sacrifices that have been made by those who put themselves in harm's way for our country and those who put themselves in harm's way on a daily basis to serve our community," Dollar said at the time.

    Dollar's measure passed the House but was referred to the Senate Rules Committee and was not passed.

    If the measure were to pass this time, North Carolina would join the list of 17 other states, including nearby South Carolina and Virginia, with full property-tax exemptions for permanently disabled veterans.

    The North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs has a full listing of services for veterans on its website.