CHAPTER 947
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 633
Proposing an amendment to Section 6 of Article X of the
Constitution of Virginia, relating to property exempt from taxation.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 8, 2005
Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 2005
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, a
majority of the members elected to each house agreeing, That the following
amendment to the Constitution of Virginia be, and the same hereby is, proposed
and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held after
the next general election of members of the House of Delegates for its concurrence
in conformity with the provisions of Section 1 of Article XII of the
Constitution of Virginia, namely:
Amend Section 6 of Article X of the Constitution of Virginia
as follows:
ARTICLE X
TAXATION AND FINANCE
Section 6. Exempt property.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Constitution, the
following property and no other shall be exempt from taxation, State and local,
including inheritance taxes:
(1) Property owned directly or indirectly by the Commonwealth
or any political subdivision thereof, and obligations of the Commonwealth or
any political subdivision thereof exempt by law.
(2) Real estate and personal property owned and exclusively
occupied or used by churches or religious bodies for religious worship or for
the residences of their ministers.
(3) Private or public burying grounds or cemeteries, provided
the same are not operated for profit.
(4) Property owned by public libraries or by institutions of
learning not conducted for profit, so long as such property is primarily used
for literary, scientific, or educational purposes or purposes incidental
thereto. This provision may also apply to leasehold interests in such property
as may be provided by general law.
(5) Intangible personal property, or any class or classes
thereof, as may be exempted in whole or in part by general law.
(6) Property used by its owner for religious, charitable,
patriotic, historical, benevolent, cultural, or public park and playground
purposes, as may be provided by classification or designation by an ordinance
adopted by the local governing body and subject to such restrictions and
conditions as provided by general law.
(7) Land subject to a perpetual easement permitting inundation
by water as may be exempted in whole or in part by general law.
(b) The General Assembly may by general law authorize the
governing body of any county, city, town, or regional government to provide for
the exemption from local property taxation, or a portion thereof, within such
restrictions and upon such conditions as may be prescribed, of real estate and
personal property designed for continuous habitation owned by, and occupied as
the sole dwelling of, persons not less than sixty-five years of age or persons
permanently and totally disabled as established by general law who are deemed
by the General Assembly to be bearing an extraordinary tax burden on said
property in relation to their income and financial worth.
(c) Except as to property of the Commonwealth, the General
Assembly by general law may restrict or condition, in whole or in part, but not
extend, any or all of the above exemptions.
(d) The General Assembly may define as a separate subject of
taxation any property, including real or personal property, equipment,
facilities, or devices, used primarily for the purpose of abating or preventing
pollution of the atmosphere or waters of the Commonwealth or for the purpose of
transferring or storing solar energy, and by general law may allow the
governing body of any county, city, town, or regional government to exempt or
partially exempt such property from taxation, or by general law may directly
exempt or partially exempt such property from taxation.
(e) The General Assembly may define as a separate subject of
taxation household goods, personal effects and tangible farm property and
products, and by general law may allow the governing body of any county, city,
town, or regional government to exempt or partially exempt such property from
taxation, or by general law may directly exempt or partially exempt such
property from taxation.
(f) Exemptions of property from taxation as established or
authorized hereby shall be strictly construed; provided, however, that all
property exempt from taxation on the effective date of this section shall
continue to be exempt until otherwise provided by the General Assembly as
herein set forth.
(g) The General Assembly may by general law authorize any
county, city, town, or regional government to impose a service charge upon the
owners of a class or classes of exempt property for services provided by such
governments.
(h) The General Assembly may by general law authorize the
governing body of any county, city, town, or regional government to provide for
a partial exemption from local real property taxation, within such restrictions
and upon such conditions as may be prescribed, (i) of real estate whose
improvements, by virtue of age and use, have undergone substantial renovation,
rehabilitation or replacement or (ii) of real estate with new structures and
improvements in conservation, redevelopment, or rehabilitation areas.
(i) The General Assembly may by general law allow the
governing body of any county, city, or town to exempt or partially exempt from
taxation any generating equipment installed after December thirty-one, nineteen
hundred seventy-four, for the purpose of converting from oil or natural gas to
coal or to wood, wood bark, wood residue, or to any other alternate energy
source for manufacturing, and any co-generation equipment installed since such
date for use in manufacturing.
(j) The General Assembly may by general law allow the
governing body of any county, city, or town to have the option to exempt or
partially exempt from taxation any business, occupational or professional
license or any merchants' capital, or both.