Amendment G to the state’s constitution will provide an estimated 3,700 veterans who are deemed unable to hold a job with a reduction in their property taxes. It adds them to the homestead exemption category, which excuses 50% of the first $200,000 in home value from taxation.
Veterans with 100% service connected disability currently qualify for the exemption, as do Gold Star spouses whose spouses died in the line of duty, and those 65 and older who are living in the same residence for 10 years or more.
The reduced tax revenue, estimated at $1.8 million for the tax year 2025 (from the Legislature’s Blue Book) will be backfilled by the state. Thus, no local taxing district will lose funding for an exemption valued at about $600 to the homeowner.
The determination as to employability will be made by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Durango Herald’s editorial board suggests a “yes” vote, for veterans.
This is a question better suited as a statute in the board’s estimation, however, but to expand the homestead exemption, in the constitution, requires similar location.
Advocates for proposing and approving a constitutional amendment should remember that a favorable vote of 55% plus one is needed; Approval of a statute is 50% plus one. That 5% difference, seemingly small, can result in an amendment being turned down.
Vote “yes.”
