Texas Border Business
Request for Opinion: (RQ-0242-KP)
Summary: Subsection 11.13(n) of the Tax Code provides that if a municipality adopts a tax exemption percentage that produces an exemption of less than $5,000 when applied to a particular residence homestead, the individual is entitled to an exemption of $5,000 of the appraised value. Because article VIII, section 1-b(e) of the Texas Constitution and the Legislature establish a legislatively-defined floor for the exemption in an amount of $5,000, a court would likely conclude that a home-rule municipality lacks authority to increase the floor above $5,000. Municipalities desiring to increase the homestead exemption must do so by raising the tax exemption percentage, up to twenty percent, as authorized in the Constitution.
The Legislature charged the chief appraiser with determining an individual’s right to a property tax exemption, and the Commission of Licensing and Regulation prohibits appraisers from engaging in an official act that violates the law. If a taxing unit adopts an unlawful exemption, the appraiser maintains both a legal and ethical duty to determine that the exemption is inapplicable to the extent it violates the law.
