But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
BANGOR — More than 760 Bangor homeowners receive an annual property tax exemption for wartime veterans — typically $5,000 deducted from the municipal valuation of their residence.
But City Assessor Ben Birch is sure that there are more who qualify for the exemption, and he hopes to hear from them before March 31.
“They’re well deserving of it,” Birch said of those who qualify. “They’ve served their country.”
The exemption is available in all Maine communities, Birch emphasized, but of course his particular interest is in encouraging those eligible in Bangor to look into it.
Veterans must have served during a recognized war period and be 62 or older, or be receiving a pension or other U.S. government compensation for total disability. Another category grants an exemption to paraplegic veterans.
In 1996, more than 50,000 Maine veterans, or their survivors, were receiving the exemption:
For World War I or prior service, 690 veterans or survivors.
For World War II and after, 49,166.
Totally disabled, in service other than wartime: 113.
Paraplegic veterans, 64.
The categories are based on the amount of the exemption.
According to a bulletin issued by the Maine Bureau of Taxation, the $5,000 exemption — $7,000 for those who served in World War I — applies only in the town or city where the veteran is a legal resident, and only to those veterans who have contacted the assessor’s office and applied for the exemption.
For paraplegic veterans, the exemption is $47,500 for a specially adapted home.
The federally recognized war periods are:
World War I: April 6, 1917, through Nov. 11, 1918.
World War I, service in Russia: April 6, 1917, through March 31, 1920.
World War II: Dec. 7, 1941, through Dec. 31, 1946.
Korean War: June 27, 1950, through Jan. 31, 1955.
Vietnam War: Aug. 5, 1964, through May 7, 1975. A Vietnam veteran must have served on active duty for more than 180 days, any part of which occurred during the specified period, unless the veteran died in service or was discharged for service-connected disability after that date.
Persian Gulf War: Aug. 7, 1990, through April 11, 1991.
Widows or widowers of eligible veterans may receive the exemption, provided they have not remarried. For instance, Birch said, Bangor still has six or seven widows of World War I veterans who are receiving the exemption.
In some instances, widowed mothers or minor children also may be eligible for the exemption if they are receiving a pension based on the veteran’s service.
If the exemption claim is based on reaching age 62, the veteran should provide a copy of the birth certificate and discharge papers.
The amount of money a veteran would save on property tax would depend on the tax rate in the particular town or city. In Bangor, where the 1997 tax rate was $23.35 per $1,000 valuation, the $5,000 exemption brought those eligible a deduction of $116.75 on last year’s tax bill.
There are some variations on this among communities, Birch explained. A town that assesses at 70 percent rather than 100 percent of valuation would grant an exemption of 70 percent rather than 100 percent of the $5,000 in question.
The exemptions are available to veterans whether they enlisted from Maine or not. Communities do keep track of which veterans entered from Maine, Birch said, because the state reimburses the town or city for those deductions.
Once a veteran has applied and received an exemption, there is no need to reapply each year unless the home has been sold and another one purchased. If the veteran has died, the surviving spouse does need to reapply once.
In Bangor, call City Hall at 945-4400, Ext. 220. In other communities, contact the town office or city hall before March 31.
Comments
comments for this post are closed