From The Daily Press:HAMPTON, Va. -- To the casual eye, Air Force veteran Clarence A. Woods (pictured) doesn't fit the description of someone whom the government has deemed
fully disabled.
He walks easily. His 68-year-old body is slim. His positive outlook on life is plain to anyone who engages him in conversation.
To be clear, Clarence Woods considers himself blessed.
But this Vietnam War veteran has a chronic respiratory disease brought on by exposure in the 1960s to the herbicide and defoliant Agent Orange. Today, he's among a handful of Virginians with a personal stake in a proposed state constitutional amendment that has sparked debate about the responsibilities of state and local government to provide tax relief.
The amendment would exempt veterans who have a 100 percent service-connected disability from paying local real estate taxes on their homes.
Enshrining such a measure in the constitution requires General Assembly passage this year, then again in 2010, followed by approval from voters. So the debate has just begun.
Del. Bill Janis, a Republican from suburban Richmond, has sponsored one version of the amendment. He said he wanted to prevent another wave of people losing their homes in this tight economy. The first wave hit people who overextended themselves or made bad decisions.
The second wave will hit property owners who, through no fault of their own, are in trouble because they can't work and face a high real estate tax bill.
"These are people who got their mortgages years ago," he said. "They made big down payments, and they own their homes free and clear. Their property values are going up because development has come near their properties. These people didn't make bad choices. And this is a small way to say thank you."
The size of the target audience isn't clear. Virginia had 6,649 veterans with a 100 percent service-connected disability as of September 2007, state figures show. The proposed amendment would apply to homeowners in that group, and that number wasn't available. It applies only to principal residences.
To put it in context, the state has more than 800,000 veterans, and 112,000 receive some sort of disability compensation.
The measure is one of several veterans-related bills backed by the Joint Leadership Council of Veterans Service Organizations. Other bills would seek to speed up disability claims and make life easier for students in oft-traveling military families.
The council represents more than 20 groups, such as the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Its current chairman, Daniel Boyer, said the tax-relief proposal touched a nerve.
"This is a visceral issue," he said.Given advances in combat medicine, it will not go away soon."We have a lot of veterans returning home who would have died on the battlefield in previous wars," Boyer said, "because battlefield medical service is so good and they're quickly evacuated. But they're coming back as double amputees or multiple amputees or with traumatic brain injuries."
Roger that, said Woods, who commands the Hampton chapter of Disabled American Veterans.
"There are just a lot of injuries out there that you're living with," he said. "In the '60s, your chances were slim to none. I'm blessed to be where I'm at today."
Woods said he was exposed to toxic herbicides while serving on airfields in Vietnam in the mid-1960s. The military sprayed the area around the base to get rid of foliage. At one point, Woods and his comrades slept in the open, near the flight line, near the poison that hung in the air.
His lung problems didn't come to light until years later. Today, he regularly visits a gym to walk on a treadmill and keeps an oxygen tank close at hand. He said the public needed to understand that not every serious disability was outwardly visible.
"You see a guy missing a leg or missing an arm, you understand that," he said. "But people see me drive up and park in a handicapped spot and get out, they say, 'What's he doing in a handicapped spot?' They can't see."
The issue has put local government officials in a tight spot.On principle, they want to support soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have sacrificed their bodies for their country. At the same time, cities and counties are
scrambling for money and facing cuts in services. Now comes the General Assembly, offering up a tax break that would come from local governments, not the state.
"If the state thinks this is a good policy, the state should pay for it," said Mary Jo Fields, director of research for the Virginia Municipal League. "It is a policy issue for us. The state could put this into effect by deciding to rebate veterans the real estate tax they pay. That would be the state paying for its own tax policy.
"The fiscal impact," she said, "is not as big of an issue."
Jim Campbell, executive director of the Virginia Association of Counties, said, "We are not opposing the 100 percent disabled veterans. We certainly appreciate all the services they have done for us. We have the state providing tax relief to this small subset of folks, but it's a local tax. It can be done through a credit. Our objection is the state saying we have to provide it."
Del. Janis is one of four lawmakers who has sponsored a version of the constitutional amendment. The versions differ. One would allow local governments to grant the break; one would require it.
The version backed by the Joint Leadership Council, which works with the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, would require the tax exemption.Janis is one four state lawmakers to have graduated from the Virginia Military
Institute. Another measure is co-sponsored by a noted veterans advocate, Sen. Linda "Toddy" Puller, D- Fairfax. She's the daughter-in-law of the late Gen. Lewis "Chesty" Puller, a highly decorated, legendary Marine.
Janis acknowledged that the amendment carried a cost but said the target group was relatively small and well deserving.
"Yes, it's probably going to have a fiscal impact," he said, "but it's the right thing to do."