Sales Tax Exemption for
Surviving Spouses of Disabled Veterans Passes
Committee
Being an Army veteran and living
in a military city, Sen. Don
Barrington knows all too well the sacrifices
made by Oklahoma's military personnel and their
families. For this reason, he authored SB 489
to expand the sales tax exemption for 100% disabled
veterans to include sales to the surviving spouses
of deceased qualified veterans.
"This is a small price to pay for the sacrifices
made by our brave men and women, and especially
these who sacrificed their health for us,"
said Barrington. "There are no words that
can convey our respect and gratitude to veterans
who lose limbs or suffer other injuries on our
behalf and for the sake of freedom. We do provide
the sales tax exemption to 100 percent disabled
veterans so why not carry that over to their spouses
after their death as a continuing pledge of our
gratitude."
The measure was approved Tuesday by the Senate
Finance Committee.
Under the measure, only those spouses that have
not remarried would be eligible for the exemption.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Veterans
Affairs, there are approximately 2,365 surviving
spouses who would qualify for the proposed exemption.
Sales qualifying for exemption would be limited
to $15,000.
The bill would have an estimated fiscal impact
of $986,012 for FY '10 and the state would see
a decrease in state sales tax collections of just
under $1.74 million in FY '11 based on an annual
inflation adjustment of 2.9 percent.
"Concerns will be raised about the fiscal
impact of my bill given our current economy, and
to them I'd point out that each year we spend
hundreds of millions on criminals and others who
do nothing but tear our society apart. If we can
spend money on those who do nothing but hurt their
fellow man, I think we can spare this little bit
for those brave souls who freely risk their lives
for perfect strangers like you and me," said
Barrington. "There is nothing more important
than honoring the sacrifices of our veterans,
and I hope my colleagues in the Legislature agree
with me on that and will help me get this bill
to the Governor's desk."
SB 489 will now go before the full Senate.