Legislation to end major changes to the state's STAR Program and return the system to a tax exemption program has passed in the State Assembly.

Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi says the transition from a property tax exemption to a rebate check, which was supposed to streamline the STAR Program, has been a dismal failure.

Brindisi says the legislation will also reopen the STAR Program to new applicants.  Under the current system, anyone buying a primary residence after the 2015 STAR application deadline or who did not file for an exemption that year applies for a rebate check.

“Months after many homeowners were to receive rebate checks, I am getting daily calls in my office from people who still do not have their checks.  No one should have to be kept in the dark about whether they qualify for a rebate, or when they might receive one, but that is the situation many people in the Mohawk Valley are in.  This legislation will resolve that problem by having the State Tax Department return to the original tax exemption program that worked very well,” Brindisi said.

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