Lawrence Veterans’ Property Tax Exemptions (Clauses 22 to 22F)

The City of Lawrence grants the veterans’ exemptions of G.L. c. 59, s. 5, clauses 22 to 22F, through its board of assessors. The statute sets them as dollars off the tax bill, $400 under clause 22, $750, $1,250 and $1,500 under 22A to 22C and $1,000 under 22E, and exempts the whole domicile under 22D and 22F; a city can add to them only by accepting a local option, clause 22I, clause 22J or section 5C½. Every figure on this entry carries its source and the day it was read. The Assessor’s “Statutory Exemptions Offered by the City of Lawrence” gives $400.00 per year under clauses 22a, 22c, 22d and 22f (a 10 percent or more service-connected rating, a Purple Heart recipient, the spouses and surviving spouses of those veterans, and the surviving spouses of World War I service members), $750.00 under 22A, $1,250.00 under 22B, $1,500.00 under 22C, and $1,000.00 under 22E, all the statute’s amounts; the sheet also lists a full exemption under 22e for Gold Star parents and parents of a soldier killed in action, where the statute’s clause 22(e) gives $400. No local option is named, and no council vote was found in the city’s online records. The sheet’s residence test for clause 22a, six months’ domicile before entering service or five years, is the older one, where the statute now asks two consecutive years before filing. The Assessor’s Hero Act page describes the motor-vehicle excise exemption for a veteran the VA rates 100 percent or determines unemployable, which follows the VA determination without local action, and sends the applicant with a VA benefit letter and proof of garaging to the Assessor’s Office or Veterans’ Services. Chapter 115 benefits, the Commonwealth’s needs-based help with rent, food, fuel and medical costs, are applied for through Lawrence Veterans’ Services. Their amounts are set by the Commonwealth and are the same in every city and town; the statewide chapter 115 entry describes them.