HJ38: Constitutional amendment; property tax exemption for certain veterans (first reference).

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 38
Offered January 9, 2008
Prefiled December 20, 2007
Proposing an amendment to Article X of the Constitution of Virginia by adding a section numbered 6-A, relating to a property tax exemption for certain veterans.
Patrons-- Ware, O. and Watts

Referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, a majority of the members elected to each house agreeing, That the following amendment to the Constitution of Virginia be, and the same hereby is, proposed and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates for its concurrence in conformity with the provisions of Section 1 of Article XII of the Constitution of Virginia, namely:

Amend Article X of the Constitution of Virginia by adding a section numbered 6-A as follows:

ARTICLE X
TAXATION AND FINANCE

Section 6-A. Property tax exemption for certain veterans.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 6, the General Assembly shall by general law exempt from taxation the real property, including the joint real property of husband and wife, of any veteran who has been determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or its successor agency pursuant to federal law to have a service-connected, permanent, and one hundred percent total disability, and who occupies the real property as his or her principal place of residence. The General Assembly may also provide this exemption from taxation for real property owned by the surviving spouse of a veteran who was eligible for the exemption provided in this section, so long as the surviving spouse does not remarry and continues to occupy the real property as his or her principal place of residence.