Briana Pace | Southern Indiana Business Report
An Army specialist served for nearly three years before she separated due to musculoskeletal injuries and other medical issues related to military sexual trauma. Three years after that, she received a 100% disability rating.
For the last five years, she’s been trying to contact state senators and representatives, lobbying for a change in disabled veteran property tax relief. On May 27, Gov. Mike Braun signed a new property tax bill for disabled veterans, eliminating property taxes for 100% disabled veterans.
Marine veteran and state legislative chairman for the Disabled American Veterans Department of Indiana, Chris Cline, testified for the bill on Indiana’s Senate floor. Woking with/for the DAV and as a 60% disabled Marine veteran, fighting for 100%, House Bill 1210 was important to Cline, not only for himself, but also for all other disabled veterans.
“It is my duty to do everything I can to continue that and work for them now,” Cline said.
The bill removed the $240,000 assessed value cap on homes. Under the old plan, a home that was valued at $300,000 would only receive the tax relief amount for a home that was valued at $240,000, not its full value.
Since she bought her home in 2021, the former Army specialist’s property taxes and house value have almost doubled, without making any home improvements.
The new bill also converted the previous deduction system to credits, allowing benefits to stack. Now, veterans who served during wartime with a disability rating of 10-90% qualify for a $350 tax credit, which can be combined with a $250 credit for those 62 years old and older. Regardless of if they served during wartime, veterans with 10-90% disability qualify for the $250 tax credit. Surviving spouses are also eligible, until they remarry.
“They got rid of all the funny math,” Director of the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs Jake Adams said. “Now, we allow veterans to apply directly to their bills, so it’s just easier to understand.”
All disabled veterans must reapply for property tax benefits because with this bill enacted, the old system is done. They can start the process July 1 and have until Dec. 30 to do it. Veterans must fill out the application, get their DD214 from the military and their disability award letter from the VA, then take it all to their county auditor. It will then be verified by a veteran service organization and submitted on their behalf. All paperwork must be completed and turned in by Dec. 30, 2026. If not, they will not receive any property tax benefits and there will be a drastic increase in their property taxes.
Not all veterans are completely happy with the changes made by the new bill. Air Force veteran and independent veterans advocate Lisa Wilken fears the effects the bill may have on veterans 10-90% disabled.
She is under the impression veterans with a 10-90% disability rating will see a tax increase next April because the amount offered in credits is less than the deductions offered. With the new bill, Wilkens says veterans would no longer be able to apply excise deductions toward their vehicles at the BMV.
“We’re looking to let the tax bills come out and people realize what actually happened, and then once our legislators hear how upset the veteran community is, then go in and ask them to change it so that veterans don’t lose what they had before,” Wilken said.
Cline has tried to go to every Indiana county auditor and see how they do things. Based on his research, Cline found a very small percentage of 10-90% disabled veterans may see a little increase in property taxes next year, until they take the bill back to legislation.
“Thank you for this,” Cline said, “Now we got to fine tune it for those that were 10-90%.”
However, Adams says there is no evidence they will see an increase. Fiscal analyses were done by the Legislative Services Agency and based on those calculations; there is no indication any veterans will receive less than before. With the elimination of the assessed value cap, 52,000 veterans will be eligible that weren’t before resulting in about $13.1 million going back into their pockets.
“We know for a fact 52,000 veterans will be eligible that weren’t before,” Adams said, “so, I’m confident that those 52,000 that are 10-90% are thankful that this bill passed.”
Adams’ office is very conscious of any bill that would negatively impact veterans and doesn’t think one even exists. Many 100% disabled veterans are on a fixed-income and unable to work, so this bill could allow them to pay for necessities they struggled to afford before.
“They’re going to spend it in the state of Indiana, on their families, on themselves, on whatever they feel is important to them and that’s money back in the economy that would have just went to the government,” Adams said.
Many 100% disabled veterans are unable to work and live off a strict, limited income. The elimination of property taxes for them will allow 100% disabled homeowners to live more comfortably.
“The last few years with housing taxes, with assessed values going up, that puts pressure on someone whose income isn’t going up,” Adams said.
Marine veteran Stacy Dieckman, despite being declared 100% disabled by the VA in December 2025, is fortunate enough to still be able to work and pay his property taxes. He will donate what would have been his tax money to his nonprofit he is starting, Veterans Housing Veterans.
Recently, someone reached out to Dieckman needing support for a homeless veteran working on getting housing and had a car, but needed tires for it. They found organizations that rely on grants don’t have the ability to just buy tires for a veteran in need, so Dieckman helped buy the tires.
“There’s not a lot of direct support,” Dieckman said. “We’re going to put into a nonprofit fund to fill the gaps, whether that’s tires, whether that’s if someone needs a gas card or paying their own taxes, just something that is not covered by the traditional organization.”
The former Army specialist plans to use the money she would’ve used to pay her property taxes to pay off her mortgage faster. Wilken wants to go on vacation with her savings.
“I’m probably going to take a girls’ trip with it, but it’s also going into my son’s 529 savings plan,” Wilken said. “That’s an extra $1,500 a year that I can put away for the next two years for him to have more money for college.”
If his disability is not increased to 100% by the time he must apply for his benefits, Cline will not see much money saved. He estimates saving only about $100.
“It’s not zero, but it is less. It’s not what I would want, but it’s a lot better than where it was and eventually,” Cline said, “we’ll get it right.”
“Having an administration that prioritized veteran tax reform, and tax reform in general,” Adams said, “is what helped get this done.”