<p>You have to be 65 or over or disabled. The base year is the year you qualified based on age, income and ownership date of the home. For example my parents would have qualified but sold their home and moved to a new home. If they had stayed in their home and they were paying $5000 the year they qualified they would pay $5000 now and the State picks up the balance whether the taxes are now $10,15 or 20,000.</p>