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- Info
Economic impacts of current use assessment of rural land in the East Texas pineywoods region
| Author: |
Hickman, C.A. and K.D. Crowther |
| Date: |
1999 |
| Periodical: |
Research Paper SO-261. New Orleans, LA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station |
| Abstract: |
Texas established a program of current-use property tax assessment in 1966 when voters approved a constitutional amendment providing that selected agricultural land could be taxed on this basis. In 1978 the program was expanded to include certain timberland. These current-use initiatives were studied in the east Texas pineywoods region to: (1) estimate the extent of adoption by qualifying property owners, (2) estimate the effects on assessments and taxes of enrolled land, (3) estimate the impacts on revenues received by local governments, (4) estimate the effects on taxes borne by ineligible and nonparticipating property owners, and (5) evaluate the impacts on rural land use decisions. The study results, all pertaining to 1987, indicate that 86 percent of eligible land was enrolled. Nontimberland enrollments exceeded timberland enrollments, particularly in northeast Texas: On an average, timberland taxes dropped $10.03 per acre, and nontimberland taxes dropped $16.26 per acre. The average use value tax for timberland exceeded that for nontimberland-$2.74 as opposed to $1.44 per acre. Tax revenue and tax-shifting effects were both substantial when viewed alone but were not large compared to those arising from various tax exemptions authorized under Texas law. Of the revenue and tax-shifting effects directly attributable to current-use valuation, most stemmed from its extension to nontimberland. Findings pertaining to the impacts of current-use valuation on rural land use decisions were inconclusive. On the positive side, program withdrawals were not concentrated in appraisal districts where the threat of development was greatest. On the negative side, participation levels were somewhat less in more urbanized appraisal districts. |
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