Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Barela

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/08

2/1/08

HJR 1/aHVEC

SHORT TITLE National Guard Veteran Property Taxes, CA

SB

ANALYST Francis

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

FY10

NFI – See Narrative

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

Department of Veteran’s Services (DVS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HVEC Amendment

The House Voters and Elections Committee amended House Joint Resolution 1, striking the

word “honorably" allowing members of the National Guard who are just discharged receive the

property tax exemption. Members discharged for misconduct are still ineligible.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Joint Resolution 1 proposes to amend the NM Constitution to include members of the

National Guard who are honorably discharged unless the member was discharged for misconduct

under the definition of “member of the armed services" in Article 8, Section 5. The exemption is

currently $4,000.

If enacted, the question would be put to the voters at the next general election.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Assuming there are 600 National Guard members honorably discharged each year and they have

a similar homeownership rate as New Mexicans in general, 420 would receive the exemption of

$4,000. At an average residential property tax rate of $26.62 per $1000 of assessed value, the

exemption would be worth $106.50 per member for a combined total of approximately $45,000

House Joint Resolution 1/aHVEC – Page

2

statewide. However, overall property tax revenue is a complicated formula and so other

taxpayers rates would likely go up to make up the difference and there would be no net fiscal

impact.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

VSD:

Currently, members of the NM National Guard who have not been called up to active

duty, do not qualify for this benefit. In the last few years, we have seen more and more

national guard members being called up in support of OEF/OIF. These members would

qualify for the exemption once they are discharged from active duty. There are still some

who have done all their duty as members of the National Guard without being called up.

Although they still have “worn the uniform" they do not qualify because their units have

not been activated.

NF/mt