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July 7, 2011Lafourche voters will decide whether or not to grant a property tax break to disabled veterans after the parish council unanimously voted to place the measure on the October gubernatorial primary ballot.
If approved, veterans deemed 100 percent disabled by the Department of Veterans Affairs would be exempt from paying property taxes on the first $150,000 in assessed value of their homes through an extension of the statewide homestead exemption. All Louisiana homeowners are exempt from taxes on the first $75,000 in assessed value.
The state legislature, via an amendment to the Louisiana Constitution last year (Act 1049), gave local governments the authority to decide if the measure would be place on the ballot in their respective jurisdictions.
Councilman Joe Fertitta placed the item on the council’s agenda. He said he was urged to do so by a constituent and said the tax assessor’s office informed him the difference in property tax revenue would be “minimal.”
Larry Raymond, senior vice commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Louisiana, attended the meeting. He has traveled throughout the state advocating local governments to approve placing the measure on the ballot.
“Our elderly veterans, when they built their house 30 or 40 years ago, it was probably a good deal,” Raymond said after the meeting. “But as the value increases, the taxes went up. Just can’t afford it. With the economy the way it is today, it’s hard, really, to come up with the money to pay the taxes.”
Raymond, a 64-year-old Cut Off native, served in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. He said most local governments have been receptive to the idea. “It looks real good,” Raymond said. “I think the whole state is probably going to go for it.”
Veterans receive a 100 percent disabled designation when “an impairment of mind or body exists that would make it impossible for the average person to pursue a substantially gainful occupation,” according to the VA website.
“To get a VA 100 percent disability, you have to be pretty bad off,” Raymond said.
The state VA in Baton Rouge could not immediately say how many 100 percent disabled veterans reside in Lafourche Parish.
