Georgia § 48-5-478 - Constitutional exemption from ad valorem taxation for disabled veterans.

§ 48-5-478. Constitutional exemption from ad valorem taxation for disabled veterans.

A motor vehicle owned by or leased to a disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state and on which such disabled veteran actually places the free disabled veteran motor vehicle license plate he or she receives pursuant to Code Section 40-2-69 is hereby exempted from all ad valorem taxes for state, county, municipal, and school purposes. As used in this Code section, the term "disabled veteran" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of Code Section 48-5-48. Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility for such ad valorem tax exemption by being 100 percent totally disabled, he or she shall be entitled to receive such ad valorem tax exemption in succeeding years thereafter. A disabled veteran who claims 100 percent total disability shall furnish proof of such disability through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Once a disabled veteran has established his or her eligibility for such ad valorem tax exemption but his or her disability has not been adjudicated a 100 percent total disability, he or she shall be entitled to such ad valorem tax exemption in succeeding years upon furnishing, on an annual basis, proof of his or her status as a disabled veteran through a letter from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. In the event of the death of the disabled veteran who received such ad valorem tax exemption pursuant to this Code section, upon complying with the motor vehicle laws relating to registration and licensing of motor vehicles, his or her unmarried surviving spouse or minor child may continue to receive the exemption. (Code 1981, § 48-5-478 , enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1058, § 8; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 48; Ga. L. 1990, p. 45, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 259, § 2; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 48; Ga. L. 2015, p. 816, § 7/HB 48; Ga. L. 2016, p. 166, § 6/SB 258; Ga. L. 2016, p. 770, § 3/HB 862.) The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, designated the previously existing provisions as subsection (a); in subsection (a), in the introductory paragraph, in the first sentence, substituted "this state" for "Georgia" and "pursuant to Code Section 40-2-69" for "from the State of Georgia" and in the second sentence, substituted "As used in this Code section, the term 'disabled veteran' means any veteran" for "The term 'disabled veteran,' as used in this Code section, means any wartime veteran" at the beginning and substituted "totally disabled or as being less than 100 percent totally disabled but is being compensated at the 100 percent level due to individual unemployability and is entitled to receive service connected benefits" for "totally and permanently disabled and entitled to receive service-connected benefits"; inserted "or" at the end of paragraph (a)(3); and in paragraph (a)(4), substituted "central" for "Central"; and added subsections (b) through (d). The 2016 amendments. The first 2016 amendment, effective April 26, 2016, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: "A motor vehicle owned by or leased to a disabled veteran who is a citizen and resident of this state and on which such disabled veteran actually places the free disabled veteran motor vehicle license plate he or she receives pursuant to Code Section 40-2-69 is hereby exempted from all ad valorem taxes for state, county, municipal, and school purposes. As used in this Code section, the term 'disabled veteran' means any veteran who was discharged under honorable conditions and who has been adjudicated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs as being 100 percent totally disabled or as being less than 100 percent totally disabled but is being compensated at the 100 percent level due to individual unemployability and is entitled to receive service connected benefits and any veteran who is receiving or who is entitled to receive a statutory award from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for: "(1) Loss or permanent loss of use of one or both feet; "(2) Loss or permanent loss of use of one or both hands; "(3) Loss of sight in one or both eyes; or "(4) Permanent impairment of vision of both eyes of the following status: central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye, with corrective glasses, or central visual acuity of more than 20/200 if there is a field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter of visual field subtends on angular distance no greater than 20 degrees in the better eye." The second 2016 amendment, effective May 3, 2016, made identical changes. Code Commission notes. - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1990, "United States Department of Veterans Affairs" was substituted for "Veterans Administration" in the second sentence (now the second sentence of subsection (b)). Editor's notes. - Ga. L. 1984, p. 1058, § 9, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "In the event of any conflict between this act and any other Act of the 1984 General Assembly the provisions of such other Act shall control over the provisions of this Act." The statewide referendum proposed by Ga. L. 1998, p. 259, which broadened the ad valorem tax exemption for motor vehicles owned by disabled veterans to include motor vehicles leased to disabled veterans, was approved by a majority of the voters voting at the general election held in November 1998.