KSDVL Kansas Disabled Veterans Lobby

How states give property tax relief to totally disabled veterans

For veterans the VA rates 100% or totally disabled. Some states take the tax off the bill; others pay it back as a credit or refund. Tap any state on the map to see its rule.

Tap a number to light up those states on the map. Tap it again to show all.

VTNHMARICTNJDEMD

The three groups are our own, based on how much property tax a qualifying veteran ends up paying on the home after any exemption, credit or refund. They aren't an official standard. Borders are simplified. Each summary is in plain language, and the details differ from state to state: acreage limits, value caps, income tests, surviving spouses and paperwork. Every state links to an official source: a state agency, the law itself, or the legislature. Last reviewed November 2026. If you're moving, confirm with that state's tax office.

See every state as a list

Full or near-full relief on the home (22)

  • Alabama. No property tax on the home (and up to 160 acres) for owners who are permanently and totally disabled, which includes veterans the VA rates 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Arizona. Starting with 2026 tax bills, no property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% for a service-connected disability. For 2026, counties also check household income. Source
  • Arkansas. No property tax on the home, and no personal property tax either, for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Connecticut. Since 2024, no property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Florida. No property tax on the home for veterans with a permanent and total service-connected disability. Source
  • Hawaii. Each county sets its own rules. In Honolulu, totally disabled veterans pay no property tax on the home except a small minimum tax. Source
  • Illinois. No property tax on most homes for veterans rated 70% or higher. Very high-value homes pay tax on the part above the cap. Source
  • Indiana. New in 2026: no property tax on the home for totally disabled veterans who have lived in Indiana for at least a year, starting with 2027 tax bills. Veterans must apply. Source
  • Iowa. A credit that covers the full property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Louisiana. Since 2023, no property tax on the home for veterans rated totally disabled or 100% unemployable. Source
  • Maryland. No property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Michigan. No property tax on the home for qualifying disabled veterans. Source
  • Mississippi. No property tax on the home for veterans with a service-connected total disability. Source
  • Nebraska. No property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% for a service-connected disability, whatever the home's value or the family's income. Source
  • New Jersey. No property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • New Mexico. No property tax on the home (up to 5 acres) for veterans rated 100% service-connected. Since 2026, lower ratings get a matching share. Source
  • Oklahoma. No property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • South Carolina. No property tax on the home and up to five acres for veterans with a total and permanent service-connected disability. Source
  • Texas. No property tax on the home for veterans paid at the 100% rate. In place since 2009. Source
  • Virginia. No property tax on the home for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • West Virginia. Since 2024, a state credit pays back all the property tax on the home for veterans rated 90% or higher and permanently disabled. Source
  • Wisconsin. A state credit pays back all the property tax on the home for veterans rated 100%. Source

Part of the home is tax-free (22)

  • Alaska. The first $150,000 of the home's assessed value isn't taxed for veterans rated 50% or higher. Source
  • California. From 2027 through 2031, half of the home's value is tax-free, up to the first $1 million. Households earning about $83,000 or less get the first $1 million fully tax-free. The law ends after 2031 unless it's extended. Source
  • Colorado. Half of the first $200,000 of the home's value isn't taxed. The state pays local governments back. Source
  • Delaware. A credit covers the school part of the property tax for veterans rated 100%, or paid at the 100% rate. Source
  • Georgia. A large set amount comes off the home's taxable value. It's tied to a federal figure that rises each year ($121,812 for 2025). Source
  • Idaho. A credit of up to $1,500 a year on the tax bill, with no income limit. Source
  • Kentucky. A set amount comes off the home's value ($49,100 for 2025 and 2026). It's the same exemption Kentucky gives any totally disabled homeowner. Source
  • Maine. A small set amount ($6,000 of value) comes off the home's value, or $50,000 for paraplegic veterans in VA-adapted homes. Source
  • Massachusetts. A small yearly exemption ($1,000 at a 100% rating). The home is fully exempt only for paraplegia or service-connected blindness. Source
  • Minnesota. Up to $300,000 of the home's market value isn't taxed for veterans rated 100% permanent and total. Source
  • Nevada. A set amount comes off the home's assessed value. It goes up a little each year. Source
  • New York. Local governments take a share off the home's value, up to set caps. For assessment rolls set after October 1, 2026, each county, city, town and school district may choose to fully exempt the home of a veteran rated 100% permanent and total. It applies only where the local government opts in. Source
  • North Carolina. The first $45,000 of the home's value isn't taxed. Source
  • North Dakota. A credit lowers the home's taxable value. At a 100% rating it covers about the first $200,000 of the home's value. Source
  • Ohio. A set amount of the home's value isn't taxed ($59,400 for tax year 2026), with no income limit. Source
  • Oregon. A set amount comes off the home's assessed value (up to $32,512 in 2026). Source
  • Rhode Island. Each city and town sets its own exemption, often small. The home is fully exempt only if it was adapted with a VA grant. Source
  • South Dakota. Up to $200,000 of the home's value isn't taxed. Source
  • Tennessee. The state pays the tax on the first $175,000 of the home's value. Source
  • Utah. A big share of the home's value isn't taxed, based on the rating, up to a cap that rises each year. Source
  • Vermont. At least $10,000 of the home's value isn't taxed. Towns can vote to raise it to $40,000. Source
  • Wyoming. A small set amount ($6,000) comes off the home's assessed value. Source

Only with low income, or in narrow cases (6)

  • Kansas. No exemption. Three refund programs, each with income and home-value limits, and a homeowner can get only one: one pays back tax increases since a base year, the Homestead Refund pays up to $700, and a third is for low-income homeowners 65 and older. Source
  • Missouri. A full break only for former prisoners of war rated 100%. In 2026 the House voted 152 to 2 to cover all 100% disabled veterans, but it stalled in the Senate. Source
  • Montana. Help only for households under an income limit. Below the limit, the tax on the home can drop to zero. Source
  • New Hampshire. A full exemption only for homes adapted with a VA grant. Others get a credit of $700 to $5,000 a year, set by the town. Source
  • Pennsylvania. A full exemption, but only for wartime veterans who show financial need. Households under about $115,000 are presumed to qualify. Source
  • Washington. Help only for households under an income limit set for each county. Source

What happened in states that did it

The good news, the costs, and what Kansas can learn. The clearest lesson: decide up front who pays, so local schools and counties aren't left short.

Kansas, by the numbers

Veterans bring federal money into Kansas every year

About 8,700 Kansas veterans are rated 100% permanent and total or unable to work. When Kansas priced a 75% property tax credit for them in 2025, it estimated about 4,000 would qualify as homeowners. The state hasn't made a count for a full exemption. Their benefits are paid by the VA, not out of the Kansas state budget, and they're spent wherever the veteran lives.

The veterans in this proposalAbout $190 milliona year in VA disability pay, if about 4,000 homeowners qualify, the count Kansas used for the 2025 credit bill. It's our rough estimate, not an official one. The money goes to veterans who live here, so they can spend it here. All Kansas veterans$328.6 millionpaid by the VA to local Kansas doctors, hospitals and clinics in fiscal year 2025 for veterans' care outside VA facilities. Spouses and children of these veterans may also qualify for VA health coverage, depending on eligibility. Their familiesSchoolTheir spouses and children may qualify for VA help with college or trade school, depending on age and other rules.

Across all veterans, Kansans received about $2.6 billion from the VA in fiscal year 2024, including more than $1.2 billion for medical care. When a veteran's family moves to another state, their share of that money goes with them.

For comparison, in 2025 the state estimated that a credit for 75% of these veterans' property taxes would cost about $11 million to $13 million a year. The state hasn't estimated the cost of a full exemption.

These figures show the scale of federal benefits tied to these veterans. They aren't a forecast of what Kansas would lose without an exemption, and they don't show that an exemption would pay for itself.

The $190 million is our estimate: the 4,037 homeowners Kansas expected to claim the 75% credit in HB 2005 (2025), times the VA's 2026 yearly pay at a 100% rating. Kansas hasn't estimated how many would qualify for a full exemption. Sources: Kansas Division of the Budget, HB 2005 cost estimate · VA 2026 pay rates · Kansas Office of Veterans Services, January 2026 · VA spending by state · Sen. Jerry Moran on VA community care in Kansas, June 2026 · VA health coverage for families (CHAMPVA) · VA school help for families

Texas · since 2009

The exemption grew, so the state stepped in to help local governments

Texas has fully exempted the homes of veterans paid at the 100% rate since 2009. The number of these exemptions grew about 63% from 2017 to 2021. The cost landed hardest on counties near military bases, so since 2016 Texas has paid some of them back from state funds.

Lesson for Kansas: build the state payment in from day one.

Source: Texas Legislative Budget Board fiscal note, 2023 · Texas Comptroller cost report, 2022

Connecticut · 2024

A small cost for towns, real savings for veterans

Connecticut's Senate passed a full exemption unanimously in 2024. Towns' total cost was estimated at under $5 million a year, and the average veteran was expected to save about $4,053 a year. In 2026, towns with many veterans asked the state to cover their share.

Source: Connecticut Senate Democrats · Connecticut General Assembly, HB 5407 report, 2026

Indiana · 2026

Passed as a way to keep and attract veterans

Indiana passed a full exemption in 2026 for totally disabled veterans who have lived in the state at least a year, starting with 2027 tax bills. Supporters said the whole law, which also adds smaller credits for veterans with lower ratings, returns about $46 million a year to disabled veterans, and called it a way to compete for veterans.

Source: Indiana Senate Republicans · Bloomberg Tax

Arizona · 2025

A $3 million estimate, more than offset

Arizona passed a law in 2025 that makes the homes of veterans rated 100% for a service-connected disability fully tax-free, starting with 2026 tax bills. The Legislature's budget staff estimated a state cost of about $3 million a year starting in 2027, and expected automatic school tax adjustments to more than cover it.

Source: Arizona Senate fact sheet, HB 2672

California · 2026

Passed without a single no vote

In September 2026, California's governor signed a law that takes half of a 100% disabled veteran's home value off the tax bill, up to the first $1 million, for 2027 through 2031. Lower-income households get the first $1 million fully tax-free. The law ends after 2031 unless lawmakers extend it. It passed 40 to 0 in the Senate and 78 to 0 in the Assembly.

Source: California American Legion · LegiScan, SB 296 votes

Missouri · 2026

Our other neighbor is moving too

Missouri's House voted 152 to 2 in 2026 to let voters approve a full exemption for 100% disabled veterans. It stalled in the Senate, but the pressure is building on both sides of Kansas.

Source: KMOV

Related research

Tax breaks can draw veterans in

A Clemson University study for South Carolina looked at a different tax break for veterans: exempting military retirement pay from state income tax. It found the break would more than pay for itself after the first year if enough retirees moved in. That's a different tax, and the result doesn't tell us what a property tax exemption would do in Kansas. It does show why states compete for veterans.

Source: REMI and Clemson University study summary