Wednesday, March 23, 2016

War Widows – Denied Colorado's Surviving Spouse Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption

If a disabled vet isn't in receipt of the Colorado property tax exemption, the vet's survivor is forever denied this important benefit. The system is set up so that widows and widowers who've lost sons or daughters in active duty combat or combat support operations can never get the benefit. Why?

Because their warrior died on the battlefield instead of surviving to return home, get a VA disability rating, and complete the state's application for the exemption.

How does Colorado keep Gold Star families from receiving the Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Colorado's "PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION FOR THE SURVIVING SPOUSE OF A PREVIOUSLY QUALIFIED DISABLED VETERAN" form (a CDMVA rule) explains that only the widow or widower of a totally and permanently 100% service-connected veteran is protected, not widows of active duty combat or combat support KIA:
"The veteran to whom the applicant was married must have applied for and been granted the disabled veterans property tax exemption as provided by § 39-3-203(1.5)(a), C.R.S., prior to his or her death"(Colorado CDMVA Form 15-DPT-AR DV-002-07/14) 
CDMVA's form stops widows from applying unless the veteran was already receiving Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption. This is even though no prohibition can be found in the constitution or the state's laws as regards a veteran's receipt of the exemption before death.

For CDMVA, only troops who survive their injuries or illnesses to later complete Colorado's application are able to protect their survivors, not troops who die in combat.

Other confusing barriers pop up to frustrate Colorado's most disabled veterans and their survivors. Colorado's constitution spells out the exemption's qualification requirements, but as this blog has carefully detailed, legislation enacted in 2007 to accommodate Referendum E (which became Article X Section 3.5 of the constitution) didn't properly address three vital provisions in the constitution:
(1) HB07-1251 left out the constitution's provision for totally disabled military retirees and...
(2)  the Division of Military Affairs added somehow a barrier to VA's Permanent and Total Individual Unemployability [TDIU] and... 
(3) survivors of military personnel killed on active duty
Vets who've been around the block with the US Department of Veterans Affairs will tell anyone how slow the VA is in making its disability awards. Even the simplist 100% disability rating can take years following the initial injury while on duty. 

I am a disabled veteran but not a Gold Star family member. After being injured in the Gulf War, I was retired by the Air Force with a permanent and total 100% service connected disability military retirement effective in 1996. All good but the VA 100% service connected rating didn't get awarded until 2015!

Were I to have died from my Gulf War injuries or at any time from 1991 until my VA rating came through in 2015, my widow would be forever denied the exemption regardless of my clear eligibility.

Colorado has been doing this to all survivors of active duty troops since 2007 when HB07-1251 was signed by the governor. Colorado refuses the exemption to active duty personnel who die in service because, obviously, the warriors never were able to apply for the exemption and thus, their widows are refused.

Does the phrase "Catch-22" come to mind?

Does this make sense, after reading the Blue Book's comprehensive description of the goal for Referendum E, or does it make sense after reading Article X Section 3.5 of the constitution? The answer should be no. CDMVA's interpretation of the statute has drifted far from what the electorate approved by a 78% margin in the 2006 election.

Unless a more compassionate program is established, this year's' military widows will join the ranks of those between 2007 and 2016 in being refused this vital, well-earned benefit.

A little background: 89% of us are over 57. As war widows, unless remarried, we receive a VA pension of $1250 a month, unchanged for 23 years.

Military members, while they are in service to our nation, believe that if the worst that can possibly happen to them becomes a reality, that their families will be provided for after their death. This is a mistaken belief. Sadly, a military widow receives less than half what a totally disabled single veteran receives from the VA. State programs are so very important to survivors, and Colorado's disabled veteran property tax exemption should not be denied any war widow.

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