City Comptroller Scott Stringer has a Veterans Day present for Big Apple vets.
Stringer is proposing a new tax credit that would bump average annual subsidies for more than 32,000 low-income New York City vets who rent their homes from $39 to $653 a year.
The move would provide a boost to struggling veterans whose median income of $35,000 lags well behind the citywide median of $57,000.
“This is an excellent move for the New York City veterans community,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Veterans of all generations badly need additional support to offset the high cost of living in NYC.”
“Veterans are not a charity,” he said. “We are an investment.”
The measure would lend a helping hand to vets trying to make ends meet in a city where the average monthly rent is $1,340, Stringer said.
Vets who own their homes already get a 25 percent break on their property tax bill if they served in a combat zone, and 50 percent if they were wounded in battle.
Last year, 44,590 of the 211,000 veterans living in New York City received property tax breaks totaling $47 million, Stringer said.
But few breaks currently exist for renters.
For example, under existing city law, a disabled vet gets the same consideration as any other resident with disabilities — a rent freeze if they earn less than $50,000 a year and pay 30 percent of their salary in rent.
And that only applies if they live in a rent-regulated apartment.
Stringer’s proposal would try to even the playing field a bit by giving all low-income vets who rent more cash back — an estimated $21 million in combined subsidies citywide.
“Assisting our veterans to stay in their homes is one concrete action we can take to honor their service,” Stringer said in a statement.