Tax break for disabled veterans

Lafourche Parish voters will decide on a parish-wide proposition to grant disabled veterans and surviving spouses an additional homestead exemption against their property tax.

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.

Larry Raymond, a 64-year-old Cut Off native, served in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm. He traveled around the state to advocate for disabled veterans by asking local governments to put the initiative on the ballot.

“At 100 percent (disabled), you can’t work or do much of anything, so it would mean quite a bit,” Raymond said. “Our veterans are not the type that will go out and ask for assistance. I try to assist them to get them as much help as possible. That’s what we need to do.”

The Louisiana Legislature gave local governments the authority to decide if the measure would be placed on the ballot in their respective jurisdictions.

The Lafourche Parish Council unanimously voted in July to put the proposition on Saturday’s ballot.