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Tax Department says proposed STAR changes will simplify eligibility for seniors, yield modest net cost
Summary
The Tax Department told lawmakers that proposed changes to enhanced STAR eligibility would simplify administration and modestly increase participation and state costs; the department could provide precise counts on follow‑up requests.
The Tax Department told the joint fiscal committees that proposed changes to the STAR program seek to reduce complexity in enhanced STAR eligibility for seniors and other homeowners and are expected to produce a modest fiscal impact.
Under the executive budget, the department would require only one resident owner to be at least 65 to qualify for Enhanced STAR, clarify that income eligibility will consider only the incomes of owners who primarily reside on the property, and allow certain property owners who are not required to file state returns to keep benefits without annual income verification worksheets. The acting commissioner said these steps would ease administration for the department, local assessors and property owners.
When asked for participation numbers, the acting commissioner said she did not have precise counts on hand but that "we have millions of properties receiving STAR benefits," adding that "we have hundreds of thousands of enhanced STAR recipients and millions of basic STAR recipients." Later in the hearing the department estimated the fiscal impact of the proposed STAR changes at about $9,000,000 for the state, and said it would provide more exact enrollment figures on request.
Committee members from both houses pressed whether co‑ops and condominiums would remain eligible; the acting commissioner said those ownership forms are not being removed. She also said the department expects the simplification to reduce the number of manual income‑verification worksheets it must process each year.
The department characterized the reforms as both a taxpayer‑service improvement and an effort to target enhanced benefits to the homeowners the state intended to reach, particularly seniors who have faced difficulty navigating the program’s complex eligibility rules.
