March 17 2009 (AUSTIN TX) - Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has filed a pair of bills to fight aggressive appraisals and to cut taxes for Texas businesses.
To help property owners battle an unfair appraisal Kolkhorst filed House Bill 500 which will protect property owners who challenge an appraisal.
If a protest results in a property being lowered by at least fifteen percent the market value of the property may not be increased for the next two years.
Many people feel that the current appraisal process is stacked against the property owner Kolkhorst said. If a property owner convinces the appraisal review board to lower the appraisal often times the appraisal office can return the following year to access another aggressive appraisal forcing someone to mount the same effort spending more time and money to argue the same points year after year.
The appraisal protection would apply to residential and commercial properties.
To address concerns about the recently revised business franchise tax Kolkhorst also filed House Bill 2505.
If passed the legislation will raise the small business exemption to $1 million cut the margins tax rate for all businesses by 25 percent and increase the deductions a business can make against their revenue. The tax cuts would especially benefit small employers and would be offset by an increase in the state sales tax rate by one-half percent.
The sales tax revenue would be dedicated to the state property tax relief fund.
The margins tax has not performed as well as originally predicted Kolkhorst said. Many people have told me they want more property tax relief and prefer to look at sales taxes instead of a business margins tax.
This bill offers more property tax relief and a tax cut for businesses. Its ammunition to get us through a challenging economic time.
March 17 2009 (AUSTIN TX) - Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) has filed a pair of bills to fight aggressive appraisals and to cut taxes for Texas businesses.
To help property owners battle an unfair appraisal Kolkhorst filed House Bill 500 which will protect property owners who challenge an appraisal.
If a protest results in a property being lowered by at least fifteen percent the market value of the property may not be increased for the next two years.
Many people feel that the current appraisal process is stacked against the property owner Kolkhorst said. If a property owner convinces the appraisal review board to lower the appraisal often times the appraisal office can return the following year to access another aggressive appraisal forcing someone to mount the same effort spending more time and money to argue the same points year after year.
The appraisal protection would apply to residential and commercial properties.
To address concerns about the recently revised business franchise tax Kolkhorst also filed House Bill 2505.
If passed the legislation will raise the small business exemption to $1 million cut the margins tax rate for all businesses by 25 percent and increase the deductions a business can make against their revenue. The tax cuts would especially benefit small employers and would be offset by an increase in the state sales tax rate by one-half percent.
The sales tax revenue would be dedicated to the state property tax relief fund.
The margins tax has not performed as well as originally predicted Kolkhorst said. Many people have told me they want more property tax relief and prefer to look at sales taxes instead of a business margins tax.
This bill offers more property tax relief and a tax cut for businesses. Its ammunition to get us through a challenging economic time.
