AUGUSTA – Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx, D-Brunswick, presented two bills that would lower taxes for veterans to the Taxation Committee on Monday. One bill would expand the number of retired veterans who qualify for a homestead exemption and the other would lower taxes on military retirement benefits for veterans who start new businesses in Maine. Many veterans attended the hearings to show their support for the two bills.
“Maine has more veterans per capita than any other state,” said Cornell du Houx. “We should do all we can for those who have sacrificed and honorably served our nation.”
L.D. 1149, An Act to Amend the Veterans Homestead Exemption to Include Certain Medal Winners, adds soldiers and Marines who were awarded the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal or the Afghanistan Campaign Medal to the list of veterans eligible to receive a $6,000 property tax exemption. These medals are authorized for service members who deployed abroad in recent and ongoing conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan. This bill also removes the requirement that the veteran attain the age of 62 before being eligible to receive the property tax exemption.
Current law provides this exemption to veterans of certain wars or conflicts or who were awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal once those veterans have reached 62 years of age or receive any form of pension or compensation from the United States Government for total disability as a veteran.
The second bill, “An Act to Provide Tax Relief for Retired Veterans Operating Businesses in Maine”, would provide an income tax deduction for 50 percent of military retirement benefits for a veteran living in Maine who also operates a business in Maine. The business must employee at least one other person who is not related to the veteran in order to qualify for the deduction.
“This bill makes economic sense for both the veteran and the state,” said Cornell du Houx, a Marine Iraq War veteran, in his testimony. “The goal is to encourage veterans to come or stay in Maine and operate a business. It will benefit veterans and provide an economic stimulus to the state.”
More information about the bills is available at http://janus.state.me.us/legis/LawMakerWeb/search.asp
