Deferring Auto Excise Taxes for National Guard Members
SECTION 16.
Section 1 of chapter 60A of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the seventh paragraph the following 2 paragraphs:-
In any city or town accepting the provisions of this paragraph, the excise imposed by this chapter shall not apply to a motor vehicle owned and registered by a resident who is in active and full-time military service as a member in the armed forces of the United States or the national guard, army or air, of any state, and has been deployed or stationed outside the territorial boundaries of the continental United States for a period of at least 45 days in the calendar year of the exemption. If the military member is wounded or killed in an armed conflict, he shall not be subject to the foregoing period of service qualification for the calendar year in which he is wounded or killed. This exemption shall apply only to a motor vehicle owned and registered by a military member in his own name or jointly with a spouse for a non-commercial purpose and a military member may qualify for this exemption for only 1 motor vehicle for each calendar year. A municipality which accepts the provisions of this paragraph shall, in connection with the issuance of warrant to collect unpaid motor vehicle or trailer excise tax from a delinquent taxpayer, add $3 to the fee prescribed in clause 9 of section 15 of chapter 60. The acceptance by a municipality of this paragraph shall take effect on the first day of January next occurring after the approval by the municipality to accept this paragraph.
A person who qualifies for any calendar year for exemption from the excise imposed by this section on a motor vehicle owned and registered by him shall be entitled to the exemption upon application to the assessors for that year as provided in section 2 for the procedure of an owner aggrieved by the excise assessed. An application for exemption may be made by such person; his spouse, if the motor vehicle is jointly owned and registered in the names of the person and spouse; or, if the person is deceased, a surviving spouse, administrator, executor or trustee of the estate, will or trust, as the case may be.