Assemblywoman Galef Continues to Push Bill to Revert Back to Original STAR Program

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef has introduced legislation with many of her colleagues (A.5969) to reverse the changes made to the STAR tax program in the 2016-2017 Enacted Budget. The bill returns the tax relief to an upfront property tax credit, as it had been in the past, rather than the more recent changes that required the distribution of checks after tax payments were due to the school district.

The changes made last year put the administration of the program into the hands of the Department of Taxation and Finance instead of local assessors, as well as changing the relief from a credit to a rebate. Although it only effects new home, condo, and co-op owners (both first time property owners and those who have moved), it has presented countless issues in the implementation of the newer system, finding that checks arrived late, requiring homeowners to pay their school taxes without having the benefit of the relief check.

“The significant negative impacts of these new changes to the STAR program have deemed the changes a failure,” Assemblywoman Galef said. “My office has received call after call from stressed constituents asking where the checks are and why they did not arrive when they were expected. Many of these taxpayers have had to put forward the money for this year’s taxes without the benefit of the credit from last year. This puts an undue burden on taxpayers, and is unacceptable. Without reverting back to our previous system, there is no promise that the same situation will not play out again in the coming year as more property owners are included.”

The Basic STAR program exempts the first $30,000 of the full value of a home from school taxes. Enhanced STAR, which is for senior citizens (age 65+) exempts the first $65,300 of the full value of a home from school taxes. The new program converts this property tax exemption to a personal income tax program for new homes, condos and co-op owners. Both the Basic STAR and Enhanced STAR programs are very popular, particularly amongst senior citizens on fixed incomes who rely on this relief.