31 May—You can count on the Connecticut General Assembly, regardless of the party in control, doing the wrong thing most of the time. Among the abominations the CGA has committed in the current session is the scrapping of Senate Bill 1128, “An Act Concerning Certain Property Tax Exemptions for Veterans.”

SB 1128’s statement of purpose was:

“To (1) increase the dollar amounts of certain state-mandated property tax exemptions that are available to certain veterans or relatives of such veterans, (2) increase the dollar amounts of certain municipal option property tax exemptions that are available to certain veterans or relatives of such veterans, and (3) fully exempt from taxation the property of veterans with a one hundred per cent disability rating from
the United States Department of Veteran Affairs.”

So SB 1128, in brief, minimally (by 1.5 percent) increased the local property tax exemption for veterans while fully exempting veterans with full (100 percent) disability status from both home and vehicle property taxes. Eighteen states currently exempt fully disabled veterans from property taxes. Why not? They certainly deserve a break.

The bill had unanimously passed both the Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs and the Appropriations Committee. Public testimony was predictably enthusiastic on behalf of the well-deserved tax break. Except for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM, an urban-oriented lobby with small towns added for PR purposes) and the Council of Small Towns (COST, a truly rural-oriented lobby).

CCM and COST made the entirely valid point that SB 1128 would be yet another unfunded mandate on municipalities, further inflating already exorbitant property taxes. But it wouldn’t be by all that much.

Anyway, the particularly galling aspect is that when SB 1128 got to the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee, the chairman, the always questionable Hartford Democrat Sen. John Fonfara, recessed and then ended, thus effectively dumping the bill in the legislative garbage can. Not even the benefit or courtesy of a discussion.

Why? Can it have anything to do with Fonfara wanting to be Hartford’s next mayor? Certainly SB 1128 could do with some polishing, like state reimbursement for the tax breaks, as it does with motor vehicle taxes in big cities with lots of Democratic voters. But to kill the bill as Fonfara did is inexcusable.

A couple of years ago, the House of Representatives passed legislation to establish a working group to study the property tax exemption for veterans. But it was never taken up by the Senate. Another why . . .