Commissioner’s Directive Reduces Houston ISD Property Detachments Commissioner of Education Mike Morath issued a directivelast night that, beginning with the current school year, TEA will recognize 50% of the optional homestead exemption when calculating the amount recaptured from property wealthy school districts. This will reduce the recapture/detachment demands on Houston ISD by approximately $60 million,…

TTARA Releases Chapter 313 Report Texas’ high property taxes place a huge barrier before companies looking to invest in major capital projects. To lower that barrier, local taxing units are able to offer incentives that temporarily reduce the amount of property tax due. Cities and counties are able to offer tax abatements under Chapter 312…

Budget Season Begins with a Sobering Revenue Forecast from Comptroller Hegar State Comptroller Glenn Hegar released his formal estimate of available revenues for the upcoming legislative session, which begins tomorrow. Under the Texas Constitution, the legislature may not spend more than what the Comptroller certifies, absent extraordinary measures. Comptroller Hegar forecast that overall general revenues…

Appellate Court Reissues AMC Decision One of the risks to state revenues previously identified by the Comptroller was a broad decision in the franchise tax lawsuit brought by AMC against the state. ,AMC argued, and the trial court agreed, that its business of presenting movies qualified as the sale of tangible personal property, making it…

Texas Supreme Court Hears Interstate Commerce Case This morning the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in ETC Marketing Ltd. V. Harris County Appraisal District (15-0687), an important property tax case that TTARA has been following closely, including filing an amicus urging the Court to hear the case to clarify what are the appropriate considerations…