Bill Text: NJ A1294 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for voluntary contributions by taxpayers on gross income tax returns to fund burial of indigent veterans.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee [A1294 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1294-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman ALEX SAUICKIE
District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Dunn
SYNOPSIS
Provides for voluntary contributions by taxpayers on gross income tax returns to fund burial of indigent veterans.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning funding for the burial of indigent veterans, supplementing chapter 9 of Title 54A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established in the Department of the Treasury a special fund to be known as the "Indigent Veterans' Burial Services Fund."
b. Each taxpayer shall have the opportunity to indicate on the taxpayer's New Jersey gross income tax return that a portion of the taxpayer's tax refund or an enclosed contribution shall be deposited in the "Indigent Veterans' Burial Services Fund."
c. Any costs incurred by the Division of Taxation for collection or administration attributable to this section may be deducted from receipts collected pursuant to this section, as determined by the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting in the Department of the Treasury. The State Treasurer shall deposit net contributions collected pursuant to this section into the "Indigent Veterans' Burial Services Fund."
d. The Legislature shall appropriate all moneys deposited in the "Indigent Veterans' Burial Services Fund" to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to provide additional funds for expenses in connection to any interment provided for by R.S.38:17-4.
2. This act shall take effect immediately and apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1 next following enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the "Indigent Veterans' Burial Services Fund" and provides for a designation on the State gross income tax return that will permit taxpayers to make voluntary contributions to the fund. The bill requires the Legislature to annually appropriate all monies deposited into the fund for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs for expenses incurred in connection to the burial or cremation of indigent veterans.
Under current law, if a veteran dies without leaving means sufficient to defray funeral expenses, the veteran's county of residence is responsible for burial, up to a cost of $250, and subject to appropriation, the State provides additional funding for burial expenses exceeding $250, up to $1,250. This bill provides an additional avenue for funding the burial or cremation of indigent veterans, including homeless veterans and veterans whose remains have been abandoned.
