Texas Attorney General Opinions
Free plain-English summaries of attorney general opinions issued in Texas, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Can a Texas city reduce or repeal the local option homestead exemption it adopted, even if voters vote to lower the city's property tax rate?
No. Under Tax Code subsection 11.13(n-1), a city, county, or school district that had a local option homestead exemption in place for the 2022 tax year cannot reduce or repeal it through the 2027 tax …
Can a Texas city use a voter-approved maintenance-and-operations property tax increase to pay debt service for a transit project, or promise that money to a transit corporation forever?
No on both counts, as the AG read it. A tax-rate increase election under Tax Code section 26.07 only forces a city to get voter approval before raising its rate; it does not 'authorize' spending the m…
Can a Texas county use property tax revenue to help fund a hospital district's ambulance service?
Generally yes, as the AG read it, if the county structures it right. The Wheeler County Auditor asked whether the county could keep paying $300,000 lump sums to two in-county hospital districts to run…
Can a Texas appraisal district employee also serve on the school board of a district that participates in the appraisal district?
No, the AG concluded. Tax Code section 6.054 says an appraisal district may not employ a person who is an officer or an employee of a taxing unit that participates in the appraisal district. The quest…
Can a Texas business claim the disaster property tax exemption for COVID-19 economic losses if its property wasn't physically damaged?
No, the AG concluded. Section 11.35 of the Tax Code gives a temporary property tax exemption for property at least 15 percent 'damaged by the disaster' declared by the Governor. The Chair of the Senat…
Can a Texas city set a homestead property tax exemption minimum higher than $5,000?
No, the AG concluded. A state senator asked whether a home-rule city could adopt a residential homestead property tax exemption with a minimum dollar amount above the $5,000 set in the Constitution. T…
Who pays for a disaster property reappraisal in Texas, and must owners be notified when their value goes down?
The AG concluded two things. First, a taxing unit that authorizes a disaster reappraisal must pay the appraisal district all the costs of making it, but the district cannot bill for routine reappraisa…
Can a Texas county appraisal district move a school district's boundary line?
The AG concluded it cannot. A tax appraisal district has no authority to detach property from one school district and add it to another, that process belongs to the school districts and the county und…
Does a Texas school district need a tax ratification election if it lowers the total rate but raises the M&O rate?
The AG concluded yes. A school district must hold a tax ratification election whenever it adopts a rate above its rollback rate, and the rollback rate effectively tracks only the maintenance and opera…
Can I keep my Texas homestead exemption if I move into a senior or care facility?
The AG concluded a court would likely read the statute broadly. A home keeps its residence-homestead character during a temporary absence caused by the owner's residency in a 'facility that provides s…
Can a Texas school district's illegal homestead exemption repeal change its state funding?
The AG said no. In 2015 the Legislature froze local option homestead exemptions at their 2014 level and barred school districts from repealing or reducing them (Tax Code 11.13(n-1)). The education com…
Who owns the interest an appraisal district earns while holding a county's tax money?
A county attorney asked who owns the interest an appraisal district earns while holding county property taxes it collected, whether past interest must be paid back, and whether the county tax assessor…
Can a Texas city, county, or school district cut its local homestead exemption before 2019?
The AG concluded that Tax Code subsection 11.13(n-1), added by Senate Bill 1 in 2015, bars a school district, municipality, or county from repealing or reducing its local option homestead exemption be…
Can a Texas navigation district reactivate an old property tax to fund port projects without a new voter election?
The AG concluded that the Port Isabel-San Benito Navigation District most likely cannot rely on the 1929 election that created it and approved general property taxes to impose a maintenance and operat…
Can a small Texas Type C city charge a property tax?
The AG concluded yes. A Type C general-law municipality may levy an ad valorem (property) tax on property inside its city limits. The Tax Code only spells out taxing authority for home-rule and Type A…
Can a Texas school district use an estimated property value to set its tax rate after adopting its budget?
The AG concluded no. The shortcut that lets a school district use a certified estimate of property values, instead of the final certified appraisal roll, is available only to a district that elects to…
Can a Texas home-rule city require a vote before raising property taxes?
The AG concluded that a court would likely uphold a home-rule city charter provision requiring voter approval before the city imposes ad valorem (property) taxes. Chapter 26 of the Tax Code sets out h…
If a Texas city has a zero property tax rate, can voters still force a rollback election?
The AG concluded yes on both counts. Under section 26.07 of the Tax Code, a city whose rollback rate is zero (because it stopped levying property taxes) that then adopts any rate above zero triggers t…
What must a Texas county appraisal district do with leftover budget money, and can it pay its staff a bonus?
The AG answered five budget questions for county appraisal districts. Funds the district commits during the fiscal year to meet or secure an obligation count as 'obligated to be spent' under Tax Code …
Is machinery used at a cattle feedlot exempt from property tax in Texas?
Representative Harvey Hilderbran asked the Attorney General whether machinery and equipment used at a cattle feedlot are 'used in the production of farm or ranch products,' which would make them imple…
Can a judge or police officer who keeps their home address off their license still get a homestead tax exemption in Texas?
A state senator asked how to resolve an apparent conflict: Transportation Code sections 521.121(c) and 521.1211(b) let judges, their spouses, and peace officers leave their residence address off their…
Does adopting one county tax rate above its rollback rate trigger a property tax rollback election in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that the right to petition for a county tax rollback election turns on totals, not components. A county can set an individual property tax rate (say, its general fund ra…
Do nearby foreclosure-sale prices count when the appraisal district values my home?
The Attorney General concluded that under section 23.01(c) of the Tax Code, a chief appraiser setting the market value of a residence homestead may not throw out the sale prices of nearby homes just b…
What ID do you need to get a Texas residence homestead property tax exemption?
The Attorney General concluded that only a driver's license, personal identification certificate, or vehicle registration receipt issued by Texas can satisfy the documentation rules in Tax Code subsec…
Is a city-owned airport hangar leased to a private company exempt from Texas property tax?
The Attorney General declined to answer the specific tax questions. Whether the City of Greenville's airport maintenance facilities, leased to the private contractor L-3, are exempt from property tax …
How is a hurricane-damaged Texas home reappraised for property taxes after repairs?
It depended on whether the home had been rendered uninhabitable or unusable. The Attorney General explained that if a residence homestead was rendered uninhabitable or unusable by the storm, Tax Code …
How can a Texas hospital district set a property tax rate again after going years without levying any tax?
The Attorney General had no clean answer, because the Tax Code does not provide one. The Amarillo Hospital District had not levied a property tax since 1996, when it sold its hospital and funded indig…
Can a Texas property owner force the appraisal district to list land and the buildings on it as separate parcels, or does the chief appraiser decide?
The chief appraiser decides. The Attorney General concluded that no statute directly says who determines whether land and improvements under common ownership are combined on a single parcel identifica…
Can I include extra contiguous lots in my Texas homestead property tax exemption?
Yes, within limits. The Attorney General concluded that section 11.13(j) of the Tax Code defines a 'residence homestead' to include the structure together with the land, not to exceed 20 acres, regard…
When does the 10-year clock on a Texas property tax abatement start, the date the agreement is signed or a later date?
It can start later. The Attorney General concluded that the maximum 10-year tax abatement period under Tax Code section 312.204(a) may begin in a year after the year the agreement is signed. A 2009 am…
Could a business leasing Texas land seek a school property-tax value limit for buildings or equipment it owned?
Yes, under the law examined in 2008. A person that owned a qualifying building, improvement, or item of tangible personal property could apply for the chapter 313 appraised-value limitation even if th…
After Texas consolidated appraisal districts, who handles property tax protests from before 2008?
The old appraisal district keeps that authority. Representative Fred Hill asked how House Bill 1010, which realigned appraisal district boundaries to county lines and ended the practice of a multi-cou…
Can a Texas county give a tax abatement to a company building on a commissioner's land?
The Sterling County Attorney asked whether the conflict-of-interest exclusion in Tax Code section 312.402(d) blocks the county from giving a wind turbine company a tax abatement when the company's tur…
Who handles old tax lawsuits after a Texas appraisal district's boundaries shrink to the county line?
Waller County's district attorney asked who is responsible for property tax lawsuits filed against the Waller County Appraisal District over property outside Waller County, after House Bill 1010 took …
Can a property tax consultant sign the agent form for a Texas property owner?
State Representative Fred Hill asked the Attorney General to interpret Tax Code section 1.111, which lets a property owner name an agent to handle property tax matters, and specifically whether a prop…
Can a Texas navigation district adopt an over-65 or disabled homestead tax freeze?
No. The Attorney General concluded that article VIII, section 1-b(h) of the Texas Constitution, which lets certain taxing entities freeze property taxes on the homesteads of people who are disabled or…
Can a charity get a Texas property tax exemption for a building it can't yet occupy?
It depends on the facts, and the chief appraiser decides. The Attorney General explained that an unoccupied building is not automatically disqualified from the charitable property tax exemption: under…
Does a Texas city need to show an area is blighted to create a tax-increment reinvestment zone?
The Attorney General concluded that a city may not designate an area as a reinvestment zone under Tax Code section 311.005(a)(5) unless the area is 'unproductive, underdeveloped, or blighted' within t…
Can a Texas hospital district operate a nursing home or long-term care facility and levy taxes to pay for it?
The Attorney General concluded yes. The East Coke County Hospital District, a district created in 1969 by a special law under article IX, section 9 of the Texas Constitution, had authority to operate …
If a county appraisal district employee marries the county tax assessor-collector, can the employee keep the job?
The Kerr County Attorney asked what happens when a county appraisal district employee marries the same county's tax assessor-collector, who sits on the appraisal district board as a nonvoting director…
Can a Texas school district offer an early-payment tax discount if an appraisal district collects its taxes?
On behalf of the Killeen ISD, a senator asked whether a school district could give its taxpayers an early-payment discount when the district did not collect its own taxes but had contracted with the B…
Can Texas revoke a manufactured home's title statement if it was moved without paying property taxes?
The Hunt County Attorney asked whether the state housing department must revoke a manufactured home's 'statement of ownership and location' when the home is moved out of the county without paying the …
Is it constitutional for Texas to make overlapping appraisal districts tax a property at the lowest appraised value?
When a property sits in two or more appraisal districts at once (which happens when a taxing unit crosses county lines), Tax Code section 6.025(d) tells the chief appraisers, if they cannot agree on a…
Does a nonvoting member of a Texas appraisal district board count toward a quorum and can they serve as an officer?
Yes. The Attorney General concluded that a county assessor-collector who serves as a nonvoting member of an appraisal district board under Tax Code sections 6.03 and 6.04 is still counted in determini…
Can a county's delinquent-tax-collection attorney donate money or equipment back to the county?
The Attorney General concluded that an attorney who is paid through the special delinquent-tax penalty under Tax Code section 33.07 may not donate money, personnel, or equipment to the county if the d…
Can a Texas county let its tax-collection law firm decide when foreclosed properties get resold?
The Attorney General concluded that a taxing unit cannot adopt a 'blanket' resolution that hands its private tax-collection attorneys the power to direct the sheriff or a constable on when to resell t…
Does a Texas school district subtract property in a tax increment financing zone from its taxable value?
The Attorney General concluded yes. Government Code section 403.302(d)(8) requires the Comptroller to deduct the captured value of property subject to a tax increment financing agreement under Local G…
Can a Texas community college district lower its property tax rate after it has already set it and mailed the bills?
The Attorney General concluded no. The Tax Code does not expressly let a community college district voluntarily reduce its adopted tax rate in the same tax year, and that authority cannot be implied, …
If the tax office never sent the required notice, do I owe years of penalties and interest on my delinquent Texas property tax?
The Attorney General concluded that when a tax collector fails to send the five-year delinquency notice that section 33.04(b) of the Tax Code requires, the property owner is not responsible for any pe…
Can a Texas city or county hire a company on commission to find untaxed property?
The Attorney General concluded that a business may legally be organized to locate property omitted from the appraisal rolls, but no taxing unit, including a home-rule city, may contract with such a bu…
Can a Texas heavy equipment dealer get back inventory taxes prepaid in a year they didn't owe?
The Attorney General concluded that the tax assessor-collector had no authority to take or escrow the dealer's payments, since a dealer not in business on January 1 owes no inventory tax and may not r…
Is a travel trailer on rented land taxed as real property or personal property in Texas?
The Attorney General concluded that section 1.04(3)(B) of the Tax Code does not rule out, as a matter of law, treating a travel trailer on someone else's land as an 'improvement' taxable as real prope…
Can a Texas hospital district hold an election to raise the maximum tax rate set when it converted?
The Attorney General concluded that a hospital district governed by chapter 286 of the Health and Safety Code has no authority to hold an election to raise the maximum property tax rate its voters app…
When does a Texas city tax abatement end if the owner joins the city council?
The Attorney General clarified that a municipal property tax abatement ends on the date the owner assumes office as a member of the city council, not on election day and not at the end of the year. Be…
Can a hospital district keep collecting taxes after it closes its hospital?
The Attorney General concluded that closing a hospital does not end a hospital district's constitutional duty to provide and pay for medical care for its needy residents, so the Garza Hospital Distric…
Who is disqualified from serving on a Texas county appraisal review board?
The Attorney General concluded the El Paso board member was ineligible to serve. The decisive point was that, when he was appointed, he was acting as paid legal counsel to the appraisal district, whic…
Can Texas charge property tax on a travel trailer I already paid sales tax on?
The Attorney General concluded that taxing a travel trailer that has been affixed to land and is taxable as personal property is not, by itself, impermissible double taxation. A trailer attached to a …
Can a Texas county waive property taxes on a building used by a nonprofit but owned by an individual?
The Attorney General agreed with Cameron County that it could not waive the taxes, penalties, and interest on a building owned by an individual even though a nonprofit organization used it. Penalty an…
Can a Texas city grant a new tax abatement on property that already had a ten-year abatement?
The Attorney General concluded that a governmental entity may not grant a new tax abatement on property that already received a full ten-year abatement under chapter 312 of the Tax Code, and that the …
When two Texas bills amend the same tax statute in the same session, which one controls?
The Attorney General concluded that the later-enacted bill controls. In 1997 the Legislature passed two bills, Senate Bill 141 and House Bill 3306, both rewriting section 34.06(b) of the Tax Code on h…
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Attorney general opinions in Texas are written by the Texas Attorney General's office in response to questions from state agencies, legislators, and prosecutors. They are not binding like court decisions, but courts and agencies treat them as persuasive guidance on how state law applies. Every opinion above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original text.