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H 3190

Notary fees

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Randy Ligon

Gives MA towns a local option to abate up to 100% of real and personal property taxes for residents 75+, with town assessors setting eligibility; requires local adoption.

Referred to Committee on Ways and Means
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Bill Summary · H 3190

Summary — H.3190 (House Docket No. 3981): "An Act granting property tax relief to seniors"

Purpose

H.3190 would give Massachusetts cities and towns a local option to grant substantial property tax relief to older residents. The stated intent is to allow municipal assessors to abate property taxes for qualifying seniors, reducing or eliminating their local property tax liability.

Key provisions

  • Adds a new paragraph (Fifty-ninth) to Section 5 of Chapter 59 of the Massachusetts General Laws.
  • Authorizes, upon a city or town's acceptance of the section, the local board of assessors to grant abatement of real and personal property taxes up to 100% of the total tax assessed for a resident who has attained the age of 75.
  • Eligibility criteria for receiving an abatement are not specified in the statute; instead, they are to be established by the local board of assessors for each accepting municipality.
  • The authority is permissive (a local option): a city or town must affirmatively accept the section for it to have effect there.

Who would be affected

  • Primary beneficiaries: municipal residents aged 75 and older in cities/towns that adopt this provision.
  • Municipal governments: boards of assessors would gain discretionary authority to set eligibility standards and to grant partial or full abatements, which could reduce local property tax collections.
  • Other taxpayers in the municipality could be indirectly affected if abatements change the local tax base or lead to tax rate adjustments.

Implementation and eligibility

  • Implementation requires acceptance by the city or town (local adoption process determined by municipal law).
  • Boards of assessors would draft and apply eligibility rules (e.g., income limits, asset tests, residency requirements, homeowner-only limits), but the bill does not prescribe any statewide criteria or safeguards.
  • The measure applies to both real and personal property taxes.

Fiscal and policy considerations

  • Potential for reduced property tax revenue in municipalities that adopt the option, depending on uptake and whether abatements are full (100%) or partial.
  • The absence of statewide eligibility standards could lead to varying levels of relief and differing fiscal impacts across municipalities.
  • Possible interactions with existing state and local senior tax relief programs (e.g., exemptions, deferrals, "circuit breaker" credit) would need to be managed at the municipal level.

Legislative status and timeline

  • Prefiled: 2024-12-05
  • Introduced/read first time in House: 2025-01-14; referred to Committee on Ways and Means (also referred to the Committee on Revenue on 2025-02-27).
  • Senate concurred: 2025-02-27 (per docket entries).
  • Hearing scheduled: 06/16/2025, 1:00 PM–5:00 PM in room A-1.
  • Sponsors/petitioners: Rep. Paul McMurtry (11th Norfolk), with Reps. Marcus S. Vaughn and Steven George Xiarhos listed as co-petitioners.

Notes

  • The bill text included in the filing also contains unrelated draft language regarding notary fees from South Carolina; that content appears to be extraneous and is not part of this Massachusetts measure.
  • Related filing: HD 3981 is listed as being replaced by this bill.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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