The State House, yesterday, June 5, passed HB 468, that would allow survivors of a person eligible for the state’s Property Tax and Rent Rebate program to collect benefits the deceased would have been eligible to receive.
The vote was 197-0. The bill had been introduced by Jim Cox (R-129). It now goes to the Senate.
“When a person who is eligible for the Property Tax and Rent Rebate program passes away, a family member should be able to collect the money,” Cox said.
The Property Tax and Rent Rebate program provides benefits based on the previous year’s taxes or rent. For example, the program in 2012 will provide rebates for taxes and rent paid by eligible applicants in 2011. Therefore, an applicant who paid property taxes in 2011 but passed away before the end of that year would not have an opportunity to apply for a rebate.
Currently, the benefit owed to the deceased person would be lost and family members would be unable to claim it.
“These families are dealing with the loss of a loved one,” Cox said. “Denying them the rebate that their loved one was eligible for is like throwing salt in an open wound.”
Under Cox’s legislation, a family member – including a surviving spouse, child, mother or father, or sister or brother – would be eligible to collect the benefit owed to the deceased person.