Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

In a January 23 statement, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he strongly supports the property appraisal reform plan submitted by the Task Force on Appraisal Reform. The governor said the plan would improve the accuracy of appraisals, prevent future unfunded state mandates on local government, and ensure that taxpayers are not powerless to stop large tax and spending increases.
The Task Force's report contains recommendations for five statutory changes and two constitutional changes. The following statutory changes are recommended:
-- require voter approval for any local taxing entity, excluding schools, to tax in excess of the approved prior year's budgeted tax revenue plus 5%;
-- implement measures to improve fairness and consistency in the appraisal process, including new options for taxpayers to challenge property valuations;
-- change the comptroller's property valuation study and provide uniformity in local property appraisal practices;
-- prohibit the state from passing unfunded mandates to local governments in the future; and
-- require sales price disclosure.
The following constitutional changes are recommended:
-- allow taxpayers the option of calculating their property taxes using a five-year rolling average of the property's appraised value; and
-- lower the residential appraisal cap on city and county taxes from 10% to 5%, double the local property tax homestead exemption to $6,000, and allow local governments the option of conducting an election to enact a half-cent countywide sales tax constitutionally dedicated to property tax reduction. The appraisal cap could be lowered to 5% only in counties that vote for the half-cent sales tax increase.
The governor's press release may be viewed at http://www.governor.state.tx.us/.