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By Govenor Mitt Romney (Rep.)
Our seniors deserve the peace of mind that comes with flexibility and choice in personal living arrangements. When a person spends years building a home and a life in a community, that person should have every opportunity to spend the sunset of his or her life in that home and in that community. That’s why I’ve filed legislation that will help even more seniors to stay in their homes if that’s their choice. Specifically, there are three parts to this legislation.First, it increases the number of seniors eligible for a deferment in the payment of their property taxes. Right now, Massachusetts has a law that allows certain seniors to defer paying property taxes until that property is sold or transferred after the death of a taxpayer. Our bill expands the pool of eligible seniors by raising the threshold for income eligibility to as much as $60,000. It also lowers the interest charged on the unpaid taxes from eight percent to three percent.
In addition, it changes the residency requirement for eligibility. Under this bill, in order to be eligible for a property tax deferral, a senior will have to have lived in his or her city or town for five years. Under current law, that person has to have lived in Massachusetts for at least 10 years and on that specific piece of property for at least five.
I know that there’s a financial concern here for cities and towns as well. They don’t want to take a financial hit by encouraging deferrals. We don’t want them to take that hit, either. So we’re going to ease their situation by establishing a municipal borrowing program.
Second, the bill creates a new, $2,000 deduction for state residents over age 70 who purchase major medical equipment designed, in part, for home use. This includes equipment such as defibrillators and hospital beds. If an older resident needs a little help to pay for medical assistance that will keep that person in his or her home, we want to provide that help.
Third, we know that the best care for our older citizens comes from their loved ones. There is no better support network than the family. And quite often, later in life, children decide to live with their parents again under the same roof in order to provide that support.
In order to help these families out, we want to create a $10,000 exemption for any taxpayer who has certain dependents over age 70. We’re specifically talking about a parent, an in-law, a grandparent, or a sibling who lives in the same house with that taxpayer for the entire year, and at least 50 percent of that older person’s financial support needs to come from the taxpayer. This exemption would be in addition to the current $1,000 dependent exemption and the $3,600 deduction for residents over age 65.
I urge the legislature to work with us to pass this bill as soon as possible. There are countless seniors and families across Massachusetts that will benefit from it.
Together, we can do the right thing, and give our seniors the choice and flexibility they deserve.