Sen. Stone Proposes Tax Relief for Veterans

SACRAMENTO — Veterans across California are getting attention from Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Riverside County. The senator who heartily won reelection in November wants to provide tax relief to those who have worn this nation’s uniform and served it faithfully.

The senator has introduced Senate Bill 364, the Veterans Tax Relief bill, which attempts to deal with the problem of homeless veterans by capping the property taxes on the primary residence of honorably discharged veterans over age 65. The bill also exempts the property tax of all 100 percent disabled veterans living in their primary residence.

“It’s been said that a military veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount of up to and including their life,” Stone said in a prepared statement. “As these men and women become senior citizens the least we can do is offer them the financial stability this legislation provides.”

“Many veterans who are, or will soon become, senior citizens served America during the Vietnam and Korean wars, a time when our nation often did not show these men and women the respect they deserved,” the Senator said.

“These veterans didn’t stop serving when their military days were behind them,” said Senator Stone. “They raised families, used their skills to open businesses — both small and large — volunteered in their communities and continued to make the country they once protected a better place. Now, as senior citizens, these men and women deserve the best we can give them.”

Senate Bill 364 is similar to SB 1104 which the Senator introduced in 2016. That bill received bi-partisan support but was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee before it could be heard by the entire legislature.

“I’m hoping this year that members of the Legislature will stand up and support this common sense and compassionate legislation to bring tax relief to our veterans who have done so much for all of  us,” Stone said.

Stone is urging all California Veterans, Veterans organizations and other interested residents in tax relief for veterans to contact their State legislators to let them know they support SB 364.

Stone represents California’s 28th Senate District. The district, which is entirely in Riverside County, stretches from the vineyards of the Temecula Valley to the Colorado River and includes the cities of Blythe, Canyon Lake, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, Lake Elsinore, La Quinta, Murrieta, Temecula, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and Wildomar.