2001 Annual Property Tax Report
Texas Taxing Units Levy $25 Billion in Local Property Taxes
For tax year 2001, local taxing units levied more than $25 billion in property taxes, about 12 percent more than in tax year 2000. Local appraisal districts reported 2001 total appraised property values increasing about 11 percent.
Appraised values are property values established by county appraisal districts (CADs) before deducting for exemptions to arrive at taxable values. Local taxing units include counties, school districts, cities, and special districts such as junior colleges, hospitals, utilities, flood control, and rural fire districts. Exemption amounts and types offered by taxing units may vary.
School property taxes — imposed by 1,035 independent school districts and representing 60 percent of total property taxes — grew by 13 percent to reach more than $15 billion in 2001. Local school taxable values (after exemptions) increased 11 percent to reach $943 billion.
City property taxes increased 10 percent, to total almost $3.9 billion. Total city taxable property values for 1,027 cities increased slightly above 10 percent to reach $691 billion.
County property taxes exceeded $3.5 billion in 2001 for more than an 11-percent increase from 2000. Looking at county general fund tax rates, county taxable values increased almost 11 percent to reach $1 trillion.
The levy of 1,288 special districts rose by 13 percent to total more than $2.7 billion on $2 trillion in taxable values. Special districts’ boundaries may overlap with other special districts and may extend into more than one county.
Table 1 from the Comptroller’s Annual Property Tax Report for Tax Year 2001 compares the tax levies from 2000 to 2001 by type of taxing unit. Each year the Comptroller publishes an annual report on property taxes, required by Property Tax Code Section 5.09. The annual report includes the total appraised values of each CAD and the taxable value, tax rate, and taxes of each taxing unit reporting to the Comptroller.
Note: Totals may not add due to rounding.
Table 1: Property Taxes Reported by Unit Type – 2000 vs. 2001 2000 2001 Unit Type No. of Units Tax Levy (in millions) % Tax Levy No. of Units Tax Levy (in millions) % Tax Levy % Increase School districts * 1,035 $13,392 59.5% 1,035 $15,155 59.9 % 13.2% Cities 1,012 $3,531 15.7% 1,027 $3,885 15.3% 10.0 % Counties 254 $3,201 14.2% 254 $3,566 14.1% 11.4% Special districts 1,265 $2,389 10.6% 1,288 $2,704 10.7% 13.2% Total 3,566 $22,513 100.0% 3,604 $25,310 100.0% 12.4% * Includes:
County Equalization$24.3 $25.9 South Texas ISD $7.8 $ 9.1
Source: Carole Keeton Rylander, Texas ComptrollerTable 2 shows the growth in property tax levies by the four major types of taxing units since 1985. For these 17 years, the total of all taxing units' property taxes grew 182 percent.
* 1991 and 1992 include County Education Districts.
Table 2: Growth of the Property Tax by Unit Type – 1985-2001 Tax Year Special District Levy County Levy City Levy School Levy Total Property
Tax Levy1985 $1,056,802,000 $1,427,755,000 $1,820,345,000 $4,663,892,000 $8,968,794,000 1986 $1,141,652,000 $1,482,295,000 $1,966,674,000 $5,026,592,000 $9,617,213,000 1987 $1,176,667,000 $1,539,953,000 $2,028,743,000 $5,218,820,000 $9,964,183,000 1988 $1,232,415,000 $1,595,183,000 $2,145,726,000 $5,575,843,000 $10,549,167,000 1989 $1,284,165,144 $1,715,691,860 $2,200,415,156 $6,072,227,279 $11,272,499,439 1990 $1,354,607,273 $1,743,176,612 $2,218,971,749 $6,605,433,619 $11,922,189,253 1991* $1,459,643,501 $1,894,013,461 $2,303,609,801 $7,566,042,099 $13,223,308,862 1992* $1,492,043,534 $1,996,116,460 $2,311,630,199 $8,181,309,478 $13,981,099,671 1993 $1,535,769,813 $2,176,974,573 $2,362,404,482 $8,681,859,148 $14,757,008,016 1994 $1,620,504,796 $2,311,389,149 $2,493,554,910 $9,024,885,601 $15,450,334,456 1995 $1,628,217,607 $2,391,961,283 $2,596,742,540 $9,340,994,056 $15,957,915,486 1996 $1,698,557,436 $2,537,183,937 $2,701,214,386 $9,910,195,171 $16,847,150,930 1997 $1,759,622,591 $2,658,308,076 $2,847,081,480 $10,394,500,372 $17,659,512,519 1998 $1,889,138,306 $2,828,286,927 $3,005,996,060 $11,334,614,289 $19,058,035,582 1999 $2,041,041,011 $2,979,279,400 $3,247,964,177 $12,009,923,498 $20,278,208,086 2000 $2,389,110,312 $3,200,919,731 $3,530,863,516 $13,392,336,012 $22,513,229,571 2001 $2,703,512,059 $3,566,857,130 $3,884,829,249 $15,155,217,587 $25,310,416,025
Source: Carole Keeton Ryalnder, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.Property taxes vs. other taxes
When examining how large a role property taxes play compared to other state and local taxes, it is important to remember that different collection cycles exist. The analysis shown in Figure A looks at 2000 property taxes ($22.5 billion), which local governments spent in 2001, versus state and other local taxes collected and spent in fiscal year 2001, which ended August 31, 2001.
Using this comparison basis, major state and local sales taxes and property taxes in 2001 totaled approximately $53.7 billion. Property taxes remained the single largest type of tax at about 42 percent of this total.
State sales taxes, the next largest revenue source at $14.7 billion represented just above 27 percent of the total. When combined with other state taxes — such as motor fuels and motor vehicle taxes, the franchise tax, oil and gas severance taxes, "sin" taxes and others — the state's share of the total tax levy is about 51 percent.
Local city and county sales taxes, along with metropolitan transit authority (MTA) taxes, were 7.4 percent of the total, down from 7.7 percent from the preceding year.
Freeport exemption
One exemption tracked in the Annual Report is the freeport exemption. The Property Tax Code Section 11.251 defines freeport property as goods held in Texas temporarily for up to 175 days for assembling, processing, manufacturing, storage, or other purposes. In 1990, school districts, counties, cities, and junior college districts gained the right to choose whether or not to tax freeport property. State law required other special districts, such as water districts or hospital districts, to exempt freeport property, beginning in 1990.
While the vast majority of school districts, counties, cities, and junior college districts continue to tax freeport property, the number of units that exempt freeport property from taxation increased by 23 taxing units in 2001 to 261. The amount of value exempted for these taxing units also increased by 32 percent to $33 billion.
Some junior college districts also exempt freeport property, but the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division does not collect data from these entities for that information. State law requires other special districts, such as water districts or hospital districts, to exempt freeport property.
Table 3 lists the total exempted value by counties, cities, and school districts for the freeport exemption for 2000 and 2001.
Source: Carole Keeton Ryalnder, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
Table 3: Taxing Units That Exempt Freeport Property Types of Taxing Units That Exempt Freeport Property 2000 Number of Units Taxable Value Loss 2001 Number of Units Taxable Value Loss County 42 $9.3 billion 46 $11.7 billion City 101 $8.6 billion 109 $10.8 billion School District 95 $7.2 billion 106 $10.6 billion Total 238 $25.1 billion 261 $33.1 billion Report available
The Comptroller’s Annual Property Tax Report for Tax Year 2001 will be available soon. The agency will send one copy to members of the Texas Legislature and to each county appraisal district and county tax office.
To order an Annual Report, send a check or money order for $10 to the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division, P. O. Box 13528, Austin, Texas 78711-3528.
For more information, please e-mail the Comptroller’s property tax technical assistance at ptd.cpa@cpa.state.tx.us. Or, call the Property Tax Division at 1-800-252-9121, option 2. In Austin, call (512) 305-9999.
