In addition to choosing a U.S. Senator and a member of Congress on November 6, Virginia voters will decide on two proposed constitutional amendments. One of those seems like a no-brainer, but as Sandy Hausman reports, it’s complicated.
In 2011, three Republicans in the state legislature decided to do something nice for disabled veterans, their spouses and surviving mates of those killed in action. They would not have to pay property taxes in Virginia. Senator Penny Pullen, Delegate John O’Bannon and Delegate Rich Anderson figured disabled vets and their spouses would not want to move – so their exemption only applied to their current property – but they thought widows of servicemen killed in combat might want to relocate – to be closer to family, so they were allowed to take the exemption to a new home in Virginia. That thinking turned out to be wrong according to Carrie Ann Alford at the Department of Veterans’ Services.
“We have many veterans who come home to us from Iraq and Afghanistan who are quickly given a 100% disabled rating, and then if they pass away, then the spouse cannot move closer to family or downsize into a smaller home and keep the exemption,” she explains.
Pullen, O’Bannon and Anderson proposed the original exemptions as a constitutional amendment, making it hard for future legislatures to eliminate the benefit. Now, changing it turns out to be a challenge. The General Assembly has had to okay portability of the benefit for all -- not once but twice -- and voters must approve it.
The ballot issue is so complicated that the state had to print a special brochure explaining it to voters, and Carrie Ann Alford says she’s spent the last two weeks helping the public and reporters to understand what’s proposed.
“A yes vote will allow both groups of surviving spouses to move within Virginia and keep their real property tax exemption., guaranteeing that they don’t get remarried and it’s their primary residence. A no vote will keep the two separate systems in place,” Alford says.
What the brochure does not say is that the money saved by beneficiaries would normally go to cities and counties.
“There are larger jurisdictions – Fairfax County, the city of Chesapeake – where this is an issue," says Alford. "It does affect their budget. They do not receive money from the legislature to cover this tax exemption.”
As for the lawmakers who guessed wrong about how this constitutional amendment would work – all three have left office.
