Colorado Voters Have a Long Memory - especially about how veterans and their survivors are treated

I believe Colorado's Democrat legislators have initiated the more important advances in veterans' benefits, but it would be wrong to conclude that either party is truly disinterested or uncaring. Democrats controlled the House and Senate in 2006 under a Republican governor and are together credited with getting Referendum E in front of the voters. There, the constitutional amendment found overwhelming support. This established the Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption in 2007 and reflected well on both parties.

Yet Democrats were particularly uncaring on June 7, 2021 when the Colorado Senate Veterans and Military Affairs Committee voted down HCR21-1002 (by pure party line vote). The bill had been approved unanimously by the House to correct an awkward problem in our Disabled Veteran Survivor Property Tax Exemption. 

This small property tax exemption was initially offered to totally disabled veterans and saved them about $640 a year. The Legislature updated the exemption with HB14-1373 in 2014 to provide for veterans' survivors who were already in receipt of the exemption. Repeat: the exemption was for survivors of a vet already receiving the exemption.

Sadly, that language overlooked the real-world tragedy that not all troops survive to come home to be veterans. Colorado's current tax statute denies the exemption to every widow of every servicemember lost in the line of duty while on active service.

Get the distinction? Get disabled but survive to come home and the exemption is there for your survivor. Sacrifice far more and die in the line of duty and your survivor gets denied the exemption. Widows from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and recent conflicts are refused this exemption because their spouses died on duty, rather than surviving to come home and "be in receipt." 

HCR21-1002 was going to fix that unfortunate wording of the statute so our 140 Colorado Gold Star Widows could qualify for the same small partial property tax exemption. But the opportunity to do the right thing on June 7 was shot down when every Democrat on the state senate's veterans and military affairs committee voted against the bill. There were some heartless phrases thrown around that "we'll have to look at this important issue during next session" and "let's get focused on this next year for something by 2024."

These Democrats might not have known than 80% of these widows are over 60 and 40% are over 65. They've done without the exemption due veterans' widows since losing their husbands in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and more recent conflicts. The state senate turned its back on these survivors.

The Senate made a mistake. Voters took note.

 

How'd that Colorado Senate vote go for Gold Star Wives' property tax exemption?

June 7 2021: HOW DID COLORADO STATE SENATORS VOTE TO PERMIT GOLD STAR WIDOWS THE SAME PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION COLORADO GIVES DISABLED VETS' WIDOWS? One Guess.

   DEMOCRATS = 100% NO              GOP = 100% YES

Interesting. And very, very  revealing. Every senator* who voted "YES" to honor our Gold Star Wives with SJR21-010 in May seemed to see things differently on June 7, and voted "NO" on HCR21-1002.

Thumbs down on spending $93,000 to permit these 140 widows of active-duty troops same small partial property tax exemption Colorado now gives survivors of our 100% disabled veterans.

Here are their empty words from SJR21-010 tossed to the wind, now shown to be useless and meaningless:

"That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly honor the pride and the pain of the parents and partners and children and siblings of our fallen heroes and recognize the families of these proud patriots with an expression of profound gratitude and respect."

* voting no:

• • State Sen. Julie Gonzales 
  D District 34, Chair

• 
  

• • State Sen. James Coleman
  D District 33, Vice Chair
  
  • State Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis
  D District 17
  
  
  
  
  
  

Genuine thanks are due the Colorado House of Representatives!

I must set aside my disappointment with the Colorado Senate Veterans Committee killing HCR21-1001 last week. The House is due a salute and my most sincere thanks for their amazing step of a unanimous vote approving HCR21-1001. 

"...submitting to the registered electors of the state of Colorado an amendment to the Colorado constitution concerning the extension of the property tax exemption for qualifying seniors and disabled veterans to the Gold Star Spouses of deceased members of the United States Armed Forces. "

Thank you, Republicans and Democrats in the Colorado House of Representatives for your unanimous approval of HCR21-1002 that you forwarded to the Senate where others decided $93,000 was just too much to "honor" survivors of our servicemembers.

 Earlier, well before any news of HCR21-1002's existence, I have expected and urged a statutory approach to protecting Gold Star Wives by exercising the legislature's power to redefine terms, thus avoiding the two-year delay built into HCR21-1002, and resolving the issue with 2022 legislation.

Gold Star Wives Are Due the Disabled Veteran Survivor Property Tax Exemption

 

Colorado proudly honors survivors of our totally disabled veterans...thousands of them,
but ignores 140 equally worthy Gold Star Wives

COLORADO SENATE DISHONORS ITS OWN RESOLUTION "HONORING" GOLD STAR FAMILIES

I'D CALL IT A JOKE BUT IT ISN'T.

One month ago the Colorado Legislature payed its respects to Gold Star Families* with a sweetly-worded joint resolution. Passed unanimously, the resolution praised the patriotism and dedication of families of Colorado's soldiers, sailors, Marines and Airmen who've died in the line of duty:

Right. Uh-huh. Fellow Coloradans, SJR21-010 wasn't worth the postage to mail it to the survivors. Neither was it enough of "an expression of profound gratitude and respect" to move the mighty senators to more carefully consider HCR21-1002. It certainly wasn't worth the esteemed committee of law-makers' bipartisan review. Instead, on a party-line vote, all Dems voted NO and the outnumbered Republicans voted YES.

What did they shoot down? Spending $93,000 to qualify just 140 Gold Star Widows the same small partial property tax exemption we give thousands of widows of our 100% disabled veterans. The situations are quite similar, except the disabled vets made it home and qualified for the exemption; dead servicemembers could not. The total impact of the Gold Star Widows would have been a "whopping" 0.00062 increase. Wow, how generous (not.)

That's the only difference. The tax law states for survivors to have the disabled veteran property tax exemption, their disabled veteran must have received it before his/her death. As you can imagine, a death on active-duty, and in the line of duty, pretty much precludes coming home disabled to apply for and get the exemption. 

Perhaps legislators who crafted the Seniors' and Disabled Veterans' Survivor Exemption (HB14-1373) did not pause to consider that not all troops make it home. Most do. A few of them are 100% disabled and can qualify for the exemption and so will their survivors. However, the very few who will never come home will never qualify their survivors only because they died first.

HCR21-1002 was an effort to correct this macabre injustice in our tax laws. I'm a totally disabled veteran in receipt of the exemption, and my wife will keep it as my survivor. Had I died in service she would be disqualified. Only because of awkward wording on our tax code.

June 7 was an opportunity to make things right, and to honor the resolution Colorado passed to respect Gold Star Families. June 7 was a missed opportunity to make good law. Shame on those who thought otherwise.

The Senate committee may not have realized that 90% of these widows are over 57, and 40% over age 75.  Or if the senators did know, perhaps they were appreciating that, given the survivors' average age, putting off a solution for their property taxes will have nature taking her usual course. The Senate can anticipate that year by year, for as long as the Senate is able to prevent any relief, there'll be fewer and fewer Gold Star Wives surviving to take advantage of any exemption.

What might be the reasons Gold Star Wives might want to be included in the exemption if they happen to be senior citizens eligible right now?
1. sell the marital home and downsize
2. reduce housing costs to adjust to loss of spouse's income

3. conflicts in wills taxes, credit, or other important property details

4. selling home elsewhere to return to Colorado

5. purchase home for first time

6. inherit home from other than deceased spouse, or gift

7. situations I can't predict

SHAME

Are 140 Gold Star Wives added to the current 489,000 homestead
exemptions just too, too much of a burden for the Great State of Colorado? No, not when we can also spend many millions on family planning for undocumented immigrants.

Someday solution: redefine "qualified veteran" to include a dead one. Add the words, "or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who died in the line of duty on active service" in a new statute – one that respects and honors Gold Star Widows.

* NOTE:
1. There are two types of Gold Star Wives. First, a small number of survivors of servicemembers whose deaths were in the line of duty while on  active military service. This is the group proposed for the disabled veteran survivor property tax exemption.

2. The other group are survivors of veterans who die after active duty and whose service was 100% disabling. They are already qualified for the exemption.

How interesting. And HOW CONFUSING! Gold Star Spouses Property Tax Exemption HCR21-1002 KILLED!

        Senate Veterans Committee Kills HCR21-1002

FLASH: Colorado House approves unanimously the bill HCR21-
1002 to submitting a constitutional referendum to the public to add 140 surviving Gold Star Spouses to the state's Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption. To repeat, unanimous House vote. Colorado's state representatives merely wanted to give active-duty widows the same too-small exemption disabled veterans' survivors get.

Every single Democrat and Republican voted for these 140 widows (no known husbands) to a total cost of only $95,000. HCR21-1002 then went to the Senate. These 140 widows would have represented 0.00062 of the $150M spent towards the entire homestead exemption program.

SECOND FLASH: To prevent the embarrassment of a Senate vote where Colorado's voters would see who voted against these Gold Star Spouses, the Senate killed the bill last night in committee. Straight party line, thumbs down and the bill died. Republicans YES, but every Democrat NO. I guess cautious senators felt Colorado would be overburdened if we didn't continue to ignore our dead soldiers' spouses.

I've been interested in advancing the Gold Star Wives property tax exemption for many years, urging action through the United Veterans Coalition. I've recently set the issue aside and for the UVC and Gold Star Wives to address the exemption for themselves – perhaps too much from me when I'm not a Gold Star spouse, only a Gold Star son.

Anyway...shot down behind closed doors. It feels like something's backwards here, as I'd have expected Democrats to have more concern than Republican. This was a vicious slap in the face to the House and to survivors of our troops who've died in the line of duty. The cost?  Less than $94,000 according to Legislative Council Staff.