Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0559 Page: 1 of 6
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ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
GREG ABBOTT
August 3, 2007
The Honorable Raymond H. Reese Opinion No. GA-0559
DeWitt County Attorney
307 North Gonzales Street Re: Calculation of the "base year" from which to
Cuero, Texas 77954 impose a tax freeze adopted by county voters in
November 2005 (RQ-0575-GA)
Dear Mr. Reese:
You ask about implementing in DeWitt County the tax limitation authorized by Texas
Constitution article VIII, section 1-b(h).1 This provision allows certain political subdivisions to limit
increases in the amount of ad valorem taxes imposed on the homesteads of persons with disabilities
or persons sixty-five years of age or older. See TEX. CONST. art. VIII, 1-b(h). The constitutional
provision reads as follows:
(h) The governing body of a county, a city or town, or a
junior college district by official action may provide that if a person
who is disabled or is sixty-five (65) years of age or older receives a
residence homestead exemption prescribed or authorized by this
section, the total amount of ad valorem taxes imposed on that
homestead by the county ... may not be increased while it remains
the residence homestead of that person. . . . As an alternative, on
receipt of a petition signed by five percent (5%) of the registered
voters of the county ..., the governing body of the county ... shall
call an election to determine by majority vote whether to establish a
tax limitation provided by this subsection.
Id. (emphasis added).
Tax Code section 11.261 sets out procedures for implementing the section 1-b(h) tax
limitation. See TEX. TAX CODE ANN. 11.261(b) (Vernon Supp. 2006). The term "base year" refers
to the first tax year in which a taxpayer qualifies a residence homestead for the tax limitation. See
'See Letter from Honorable Raymond H. Reese, DeWitt County Attorney, to Honorable Greg Abbott, Attorney
General of Texas, at 1 (Mar. 2, 2007) (on file with the Opinion Committee, also available at http://www.oag.state.tx.us)
[hereinafter Request Letter].
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: GA-0559, text, August 3, 2007; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth275455/m1/1/: accessed July 13, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.