Article VIII, § I

l. (a) Property shall be assessed for taxation under general laws and by uniform rules. All real property assessed and taxed locally or by the State for allotment and payment to taxing districts shall be assessed according to the same standard of value, except as otherwise permitted herein, and such real property shall be taxed at the general tax rate of the taxing district in which the property is situated, for the use of such taxing district. (b) The Legislature shall enact laws to provide that the value of land, not less than 5 acres in area, which is determined by the assessing officer of the taxing jurisdiction to be actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use and to have been so devoted for at least the 2 successive years immediately preceding the tax year in issue, shall, for local tax purposes, on application of the owner, be that value which such land has for agricultural or horticultural use. Any such laws shall provide that when land which has been valued in this manner for local tax purposes is applied to a use other than for agriculture or horticulture it shall be subject to additional taxes in an amount equal to the difference, if any, between the taxes paid or payable on the basis of the valuation and the assessment authorized hereunder and the taxes that would have been paid or payable had the land been valued and assessed as otherwise provided in this Constitution, in the current year and in such of the tax years immediately preceding, not in excess of 2 such years in which the land was valued as herein authorized. Such laws shall also provide for the equalization of assessments of land valued in accordance with the provisions hereof and for the assessment and collection of any additional taxes levied thereupon and shall include such other provisions as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this amendment. 2. Exemption from taxation may be granted only by general laws. Until otherwise provided by law all exemptions from taxation validly granted and now in existence shall be continued. Exemptions from taxation may be altered or repealed, except those exempting real and personal property used exclusively for religious, educational, charitable or cemetery purposes, as defined by law, and owned by any corporation or association organized and conducted exclusively for one or more of such purposes and not operating for profit. 3. a. Any citizen and resident of this State now or hereafter honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be entitled, annually to a deduction from the amount of any tax bill for taxes on real and personal property, or both, including taxes attributable to a residential unit held by a stockholder in a cooperative or mutual housing corporation in the sum of $250 in each tax year, or if the amount of any such tax bill shall be less than $250, to a cancellation thereof. The deduction or cancellation shall not be altered or repealed. Any person hereinabove described who has been or shall be declared by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or its successor, to have a service-connected disability, shall be entitled to such further deduction from taxation as from time to time may be provided by law. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has met or shall meet his or her death on active duty in any such service shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the deduction or cancellation in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans and to such further deduction as from time to time may be provided by law. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has had or shall hereafter have active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States and who died or shall die while on active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or who has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the deduction or cancellation in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans and to such further deductions as from time to time may be provided by law. b. A continuing care retirement community shall receive a veterans' property tax deduction on behalf of eligible veterans. The amount of the property tax deduction shall be the dollar amount of the deduction multiplied by the number of eligible veterans receiving the property tax deduction immediately prior to moving into the continuing care retirement community. A person otherwise eligible for the veterans' deduction who is a resident of a continuing care retirement community shall receive the amount of the deduction to the extent of the share of the taxes assessed against the real property of the continuing care retirement community that is attributable to the unit that the resident occupies. The continuing care retirement community shall provide that amount as a payment or credit to the resident. That payment or credit shall be made to the resident no later than 30 days after the continuing care retirement community receives the property tax bill on which the credit appears. A veterans' property tax deduction shall not be paid on behalf of any eligible veteran who resides in a continuing care retirement community that is property tax-exempt. A resident receiving a payment or credit pursuant to this subsection shall not receive a veterans' property tax deduction on any other residence owned in whole or in part by the resident, or any residence in which the resident's spouse is living. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has met or shall meet his or her death on active duty in any such service shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the deduction in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident of this State who has had or shall hereafter have active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States and who died or shall die while on active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or who has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active service in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the deduction in this subsection provided for honorably discharged veterans. 4. The Legislature may, from time to time, enact laws granting an annual deduction, from the amount of any tax bill for taxes on the real property, and from taxes attributable to a residential unit in a cooperative or mutual housing corporation, of any citizen and resident of this State of the age of 65 or more years, or any citizen and resident of this State less than 65 years of age who is permanently and totally disabled according to the provisions of the Federal Social Security Act, residing in a dwelling house owned by him which is a constituent part of such real property, or residing in a dwelling house owned by him which is assessed as real property but which is situated on land owned by another or others, or residing as tenant-shareholder in a cooperative or mutual housing corporation, but no such deduction shall be in excess of $160.00 with respect to any year prior to 1981, $200.00 per year in 1981, $225.00 per year in 1982, and $250.00 per year in 1983 and any year thereafter and such deduction shall be restricted to owners having an income not in excess of $5,000.00 per year with respect to any year prior to 1981, $8,000.00 per year in 1981, $9,000.00 per year in 1982, and $10,000.00 per year in 1983 and any year thereafter, exclusive of benefits under any one of the following: a. The Federal Social Security Act and all amendments and supplements thereto; b. Any other program of the federal government or pursuant to any other federal law which provides benefits in whole or in part in lieu of benefits referred to in, or for persons excluded from coverage under, a. hereof including but not limited to the Federal Railroad Retirement Act and federal pension, disability and retirement programs; or c. Pension, disability or retirement programs of any state or its political subdivisions, or agencies thereof, for persons not covered under a. hereof; provided, however, that the total amount of benefits to be allowed exclusion by any owner under b. or c. hereof shall not be in excess of the maximum amount of benefits payable to, and allowable for exclusion by, an owner in similar circumstances under a. hereof. The surviving spouse of a deceased citizen and resident of the State who during his or her life received a deduction pursuant to this paragraph shall be entitled, so long as he or she shall remain unmarried and a resident of the same dwelling house situated on the same land with respect to which said deduction was granted, to the same deduction, upon the same conditions, with respect to the same real property or with respect to the same dwelling house which is situated on land owned by another or others, or with respect to the same cooperative or mutual housing corporation, notwithstanding that said surviving spouse is under the age of 65 and is not permanently and totally disabled, provided that said surviving spouse is 55 years of age or older. Any such deduction when so granted by law shall be granted so that it will not be in addition to any other deduction or exemption, except a deduction granted under authority of paragraph 3 of this section, to which the said citizen and resident may be entitled, but said citizen and resident may receive in addition any homestead rebate or credit provided by law. The State shall annually reimburse each taxing district in an amount equal to one-half of the tax loss to the district resulting from the allowance of tax deductions pursuant to this paragraph. 5. The Legislature may adopt a homestead statute which entitles homeowners, residential tenants and net lease residential tenants to a rebate or a credit of a sum of money related to property taxes paid by or allocable to them at such rates and subject to such limits as may be provided by law. Such rebates or credits may include a differential rebate or credit to citizens and residents who are of the age of 65 or more years, or less than 65 years of age who are permanently and totally disabled according to the provisions of the Federal Social Security Act, or are 55 years of age or more and the surviving spouse of a deceased citizen or resident of this State who during his lifetime received, or who, upon the adoption of this amendment and the enactment of implementing legislation, would have been entitled to receive a rebate or credit related to property taxes. 6. The Legislature may enact general laws under which municipalities may adopt ordinances granting exemptions or abatements from taxation on buildings and structures in areas declared in need of rehabilitation in accordance with statutory criteria, within such municipalities and to the land comprising the premises upon which such buildings or structures are erected and which is necessary for the fair enjoyment thereof. Such exemptions shall be for limited periods of time as specified by law, but not in excess of 5 years. 7. a. No tax shall be levied on personal incomes of individuals, estates and trusts of this State unless the entire net receipts therefrom shall be received into the treasury, placed in a perpetual fund designated the Property Tax Relief Fund and be annually appropriated, pursuant to formulas established from time to time by the Legislature, to the several counties, municipalities and school districts of this State exclusively for the purpose of reducing or offsetting property taxes. In no event, however, shall a tax so levied on personal incomes be levied on payments received under the federal Social Security Act, the federal Railroad Retirement Act, or any federal law which substantially reenacts the provisions of either of those laws. b. There shall be annually credited from the General Fund and placed in a special account in the perpetual Property Tax Relief Fund established pursuant to this paragraph, which account shall be designated the Property Tax Reform Account, an amount equal to the annual revenue derived from a tax rate of 0.5% imposed under the "Sales and Use Tax Act," P.L.1966, c.30 (C.54:32B-1 et seq.), as amended and supplemented, or any other subsequent law of similar effect, which amount shall be appropriated annually by the Legislature exclusively for the purpose of property tax reform.