# The Attorney General ofTexas
June 20, 1978

Honorable BenT.Reyes Chairman House Committee onRules P. 0. Box2910 Austin, Texas 78769 Opinion No.H- 1187 Re: Validity ofahomestead tax exemption for senior citizens whose income is limited to a certain amount. Dear Representative Reyes: You have requested our opinion regarding the validity of a homestead tax exemption for senior citizens. Article 8, section l-b of the Texas Constitution provides, in pertinent part: Sec. l-b. (a) Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000) ofthe

assessed taxable value of all residence homesteads of married or unmarried adults, male orfemale, including those living alone, shall 

### beexempt from all taxation for all State purposes. (b) From and after January 1,1973,the governing body of any county, city, town, school district, or other political subdivision of the State may exempt by its own action not less than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000) of the assessed value ofresidence homesteads of married or unmarried persons sixty-five (65) years of age or older, including those living alone, from ad valorem taxes thereafter levied by the political subdivision. You advise that the Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District recently enacted the following resolution:

Section 1 That the Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District grant a $5,000 homestead tax exemption to citizens sixty-five years

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Honorable BenT.Reyes - Page 2 (R-1187)

of age or older who timely file a sworn application with the District’s Tax Assessor-Collector, the exemption to be granted according to the procedures and under the conditions employed by the City of Houston, the Tax Assessor and Collector ofthe Houston Independent School District. Section 2 That the Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District grant an additional $10,000 homestead tax exemption to citizens sixty-five years of age or older (for a total of $lS,OOO),who timely file a sworn application on a form provided by the District, through which the taxpayer establishes that his or her income does not exceed $5,000 annually ifonly the taxpayer claiming the exemption resides in the residence homestead, and a combined total of $7,000 annually if the taxpayer claiming the exemption and his or her spouse reside inthe residence homestead, the exemption to be granted according to the procedures and under the conditions employed bythe City of Houston, the Tax Assessor and Collector of the Houston Independent School District. You ask whether the board may validly condition this additional $10,000exemption upon the taxpayer’s annual income. Apolitical subdivision isempowered byarticle 8,section l-b to grant to every person atax exemption oncertain property, provided the property isthe residence homestead of the taxpayer, and provided further that the taxpayer is at least 65 years of age. The board of education, while authorizing an exemption in the amount of $5,000 to all taxpayers on the sole basis of the two constitutional criteria, proposes an additional exemption for those taxpayers who also qualify under anincome test. TheSupreme Court ofTexas has frequently declared that “lax exemptions are subject to strict construction since they are the antithesis of equality and uniformity.” Hilltop Village, Inc. v. Kerrville Independent School District, 426 S.W.2d 943, 948 (Tex. 1968);see also Davies v. Meyer, 541S.W.2d 827, 829 (Tex. 1976). Inour opinion, the school board may not limit the grant ofan exemption to any condition not derived from the constitutional amendment itself. ln Sparkman v. State, 58So.2d 431(Fla. 1952),aconstitutional provision authorized ahomestead tax exemption of $5,000. The legislature subsequently required that any person claiming the exemption must have been alegal resident of the state for one year prior thereto. The Supreme Court ofFlorida held that

the class or group entitled to homestead exemption under the constitution, and the class orgroup entitled to suchright

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. Honorable BenT.Reyes - Page 3 (H-1187)

or privilege under the constitution as attempted to be restricted by legislative enactment, are quite materially different. Asaresult, the court found the residency requirement invalid. 58So.2d, at 432. Likewise, the Texas Constitution empowers a political subdivision to grant a homestead tax exemption on the basis of the taxpayer’s age and residence on the homestead property. To these constitutional conditions, the school board has appended athird based onincome. Whenaconstitutional amendment has

specifiiedl

... circumstances and purposes ... the Legislature is without power to add to or withdraw from the circumstances andpurposes specified. Deason v. Orange County Water Control &Improvement District No. 1,244S.W.2d 981,984 (Tex. 1952). It isouropinion, therefore, that under the present language of the constitution a school district may not limit the grant of a homestead tax exemption for senior citizens to those whose income isbelow aparticular amount. SUMMARY Under the current language of the constitution, a school district may not limit the grant of a homestead tax exemption for senior citizens to those whose income is below aparticular amount.

C. ROBERT HEATH. Chairman Opinion Committee ’

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