Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas State Rep. John V. Garza will lay out his proposal to make the board of directors of an appraisal district elected offices today before the House Ways and Means Committee.
Since appraisal districts can effectively raise taxes by these increasing valuations they should be publically elected boards to preserve the principal of no taxation without representation" Garza said.
Under current law the Board of an Appraisal District is elected by the taxing jurisdictions which are served by the Board of Appraisals. These taxing jurisdictions benefit whenever property appraisals increase because higher appraisals result in a larger tax assessed. Therefore they have little incentive to elect a Board of Appraisals that will favor taxpayers interests over their own.
Furthermore rising appraisal values allow elected officials to avoid voting for tax increases by allowing tax increases to occur through incremental valuation increases by the local Appraisal District.
HB 1717 would bring greater accountability in taxation by making Directors directly elected by the voters of the County it serves. 1 member will be elected from each of the 4 county commissioner precincts and the County Tax Assessor-Collector will serve as the fifth member by virtue of their office. The County Tax Assessor-Collector is already an elected office and already an ex-officio member each Board of Appraisals.
In sum this bill is about accountability and fairness in taxation. Boards of Appraisal should be accountable to the taxpayers not the taxing jurisdictions" said Garza.
The bill has bipartisan support among its 6 joint and co-authored Rep. Jose Menendez (D San Antonio) Rep. Aaron Pena (R Edinburg) Rep. Jose Aliseda (R- Beeville) Rep. Bill Zedler (R Arlington) Rep. James White (R- Woodville).
Additionally the Senate Companion SB 722 was filed by Sen. Tommy Williams (R The Woodlands).
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas State Rep. John V. Garza will lay out his proposal to make the board of directors of an appraisal district elected offices today before the House Ways and Means Committee.
Since appraisal districts can effectively raise taxes by these increasing valuations they should be publically elected boards to preserve the principal of no taxation without representation" Garza said.
Under current law the Board of an Appraisal District is elected by the taxing jurisdictions which are served by the Board of Appraisals. These taxing jurisdictions benefit whenever property appraisals increase because higher appraisals result in a larger tax assessed. Therefore they have little incentive to elect a Board of Appraisals that will favor taxpayers interests over their own.
Furthermore rising appraisal values allow elected officials to avoid voting for tax increases by allowing tax increases to occur through incremental valuation increases by the local Appraisal District.
HB 1717 would bring greater accountability in taxation by making Directors directly elected by the voters of the County it serves. 1 member will be elected from each of the 4 county commissioner precincts and the County Tax Assessor-Collector will serve as the fifth member by virtue of their office. The County Tax Assessor-Collector is already an elected office and already an ex-officio member each Board of Appraisals.
In sum this bill is about accountability and fairness in taxation. Boards of Appraisal should be accountable to the taxpayers not the taxing jurisdictions" said Garza.
The bill has bipartisan support among its 6 joint and co-authored Rep. Jose Menendez (D San Antonio) Rep. Aaron Pena (R Edinburg) Rep. Jose Aliseda (R- Beeville) Rep. Bill Zedler (R Arlington) Rep. James White (R- Woodville).
Additionally the Senate Companion SB 722 was filed by Sen. Tommy Williams (R The Woodlands).
