LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE
                       74th Regular Session

                          April 24, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Tom Craddick, Chair          IN RE:  House Bill No. 627
         Committee on Ways & Means                      By: Willis
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
627 (Relating to the tax appraisal of certain land owned or
formerly owned by disabled veterans and designated for
agricultural use.) this office has determined the following:

The bill would eliminate the additional ("rollback") tax imposed
on land owned by a disabled veteran changing the land use, who
purchased the land through the Veterans' Land Program and has
owned the land  at least 20 years before the change in use
occurred.  The rollback tax would also be eliminated on land
purchased from a disabled veteran or surviving spouse, if the
land was purchased by the veteran through the Veterans' Land
Board Program at least 20 years before the current sale.

Section 23.55, Tax Code, imposes a "rollback" tax on agricultural
land appraised on its productivity value, when the owner changes
the use of the land from agricultural purposes.  The rollback tax
equals the difference between the taxes the owner actually paid
and the taxes the owner would have paid on the property's market
value for the previous five years.

If this bill passed there would be some loss of revenue to taxing
units with agricultural land subject to rollback taxes under
Section 25.25, Tax Code, however, the fiscal impact cannot be
estimated.

Passage of the bill would have no impact on the school district
taxable values reported to the Commissioner of Education by the
Comptroller.  Therefore, there would be no impact on state
funding for public education.    




 



Source:   Comptroller of Public Accounts
          LBB Staff: JK, BR