September 20, 2018 Recap of Today’s Senate Committee on Property Tax Reform Hearing The Senate Committee on Property Tax Reform chaired by Senator Paul Bettencourt (R—Houston) met today to consider three of its assignments: (1) voter engagement in the property tax process, (2) property tax data, and (3) appraisal reform. To start the hearing, Senator Bettencourt…

September 13, 2018 “Expenditures” Working Group of School Finance Commission Adopts Recommendations The “Expenditures” Working Group of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance met this morning and adopted recommendations that will be presented at the next meeting of the full Commission which has not yet been scheduled. The members of the full Commission will then…

September 11, 2018 Comptroller’s Office Announces New Tax Rate Visualization Tool This tool is very interesting. It shows effective, rollback, and adopted tax rates for cities, counties, and school districts in the State by county. It permits comparisons for five years. What it does not do—which is what our “real-time tax notice” legislation does—is provide tax information…

September 6, 2018 Comptroller Circulates Draft “ Wayfair ” Rule In response to the U. S. Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision overturning its five-decade-old stance that a seller must have an in-state physical presence before being required to collect use tax, a proposed draft revision of Rule §3.286 concerning seller’s and purchaser’s responsibilities is being circulated to the Comptroller’s…

August 21, 2018 In this issue Comptroller Mulls Wayfair Implementation Expanded Interpretation of Optional Homestead Exemption Could Increase Business Property Taxes Comptroller Mulls Wayfair Implementation Yesterday the Comptroller’s Office held a combined meeting of his Business Advisory Group (BAG) and his Tax Advisory Group (TAG) to discuss the agency’s plans in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s…