Property Tax Exemptions For Veterans: A Primer On The Getting

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The question I often hear is, "Who is it I would need to contact to get my property tax exempt?" The answer to which is...

It Depends...

Looking at New York (since that is where we are; unlike Dennis Hopper who yesterday was at the Oscars); the State enacted the law, but left its implementation to a lower level of municipal authority.

NY has 75+ counties that are divided into towns, cities, or Indian reservations.

Each Town is further divided into hamlets or incorporated villages -- both together: communities.

In Nassau County -- which has two cities, three Towns and 140+ communities -- the authority to give out veteran tax exemptions was kept by the County. While your Town bills you for the taxes you owe, they are only a conduit. All tax calculations (other than an incorporated village's) are done by Nassau County.

In Suffolk County -- which has 10 Towns and 165+ communities -- the authority was given to the Towns.

And, as the communities who are incorporated villages impose their own taxes, they too have authority over giving out (or not) veteran tax exemptions for their imposed taxes.

So...

If you lived in Nassau County, I would tell you to contact the County Department of Tax Assessment, and if your community was an incorporated village, them too.

If you lived in Suffolk County, you would contact your Town and your incorporated village if you live in one.

No matter where in the US you lived, I would tell you to contact your County, 'ceptin' not all States have counties.

Most do have counties. Alaska has boroughs, Louisiana has parishes, and at least one state has a city that isn't part of anything else other than the State itself.

So, contact your County's Dept of Assessment and they should be able to answer the question, "Who is it I would need to contact to get my property tax exempt?"

One Other Thought... On What One 'Gets' in Nassau County

You start off with 15% reduction in your general taxes only; not your school taxes nor any other-than-general tax. Actually were in combat -- you get another 10%. Service Connected ("SC") -- 1/2 of you SC percentage is added.

So, a 100% combat SC'd veteran gets a 75% (15 + 10 + 50) reduction. A 50% combat SC'd veteran gets a 50% (15 + 10 + 25) reduction. And, a 10% combat SC'd veteran gets a 30% (15 + 10 + 5) reduction.

Depending on where you live and under whose authority the Veterans exemption is given, your mileage will vary.

This Week's Not Commented on Story - Of Course It Wasn't... Not!

APPEALS COURT SAYS "NO" TO VETS AND FAMILIES, UPHOLDS DISMISSAL OF AGENT ORANGE LAWSUITS -- Also throws out herbicide case brought by Vietnamese people saying AO was not a weapon. A federal appeals court Friday upheld the dismissal of more than a dozen lawsuits brought against Dow Chemical Co., Monsanto Co., and other chemical makers over the use of the herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The lawsuits include separate cases brought on behalf of veterans and their families and millions of Vietnamese allegedly injured by exposure to the chemical defoliant. In the cases brought by the veterans, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a prior ruling by U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn in 2004 that the chemical companies could assert a government-contractor defense, which protects government contractors from state-tort liability under certain circumstances when they provide defective products to the government. "The government made an express determination, based on the knowledge available to it at the time, that Agent Orange as then being manufactured posed no unacceptable hazard for the wartime uses for which it was intended, and that the product should continue to be manufactured and supplied to it," U.S. Circuit Judge Robert D. Sack wrote in one of three opinions in the cases. "Although the herbicide campaign may have been controversial, the record before us supports the conclusion that Agent Orange was used as a defoliant and not as a poison designed for or targeting human populations," U.S. Circuit Judge Roger J. Miner wrote in another opinion.

--- Regards, Walt Schmidt