May 14, 1956

Hon. Burke Holman County Attorney Courthouse Houston 2, Texas Dear Mr. Holman: Opinion No. S-197 Jf,? s* a& Rc: Exemption from State and county ad virlorcln taxes of residence ot Assistant Rect~or.
You have requested that we advise you as towhether “a church can have the separate residence ofanassistant minister exempt from State and county taxation at the same time the separate residence ofthe minister ofthe church is so exempt where the aggregate size ofboth residences is less than one acre “
.

Section 2ofArticle VIII ofthe Texas Constitution authorizes the Legislature to exempt certain classes and types of property from taxation. The pertinent provisions of this section read as follows:

u

. . . the Legislature may, by general laws, exempt from taxation.
. .any proptrrt,y owned by a church or by a strictly religious soc.icty for the exclusive use as a dwelling place for the ministry of such church or religious society, and which yields no revenue whatever to such church or religious society; provided that such exemption shall not extend tomore properly than is reasonably necessary for a dwelling plac:e and inno event more than one acre of land; n

. . aThe following provisions ofArticle 7150, Vernon’s Civil **Statutes,** were enacted inpursuance to the above quoted authorization:

“The following property shall be exempt from taxation, towit:Y any property owned by a church or by~a

. . . strictly religious society, for the exclusive use as adwelling place for the ministers of such church or religious society, the books and furniture iherein and the grou.nds attached to such buildings necessary for the proper occupancy, use and enjoyment ofthe same, and which yields no. I - c

. \ -;

Hon. Burke IIolman. page L (Opinion NO. S-197)

revenue whatever to such church or religious society; provided that such exemption as tothe dwelling place for the ministers shall **not** extend to more property than is reasonably necessary for adwelling place and innoevent more than one acre of land
. . .” An additional provision for exemption is contained inArticle 7150b, V. C. S., which reads as follows:

“There is hereby exempted from taxation any property owned exclusively and infee by a church for the exclusive use as adwelling place for the ministry ofsuch church and which property yields norevenue whatever to such church; provided that such exemption shall not extend to more property than is.seasonably necessary for adwelling place and innoevent to more than one acre of land.” The constitutional provision authorizes the exemption ofany property owned by a church for the ex.clusive **use** as adwelling place for the ministry of the church. Inour opinion, the Legislature was authorized to exempt the property inquestion because itsatisfies the constitutional requirements ofownership, use and occupancy inthat theAssistant Rector is serving inthe ministry ofthe church, said ministry including collectively all ofthe clergy ofthe church.

The portion ofArticle 7150 before quoted expressly states the l.egislative intent to exempt property used as adwelling place for the ministers ofachurch, thus recognizing that aparticular church might have more than one minister. Article 7150b likewise exempts, inthe same language used inthe constitutional provision. any property used exclusively as a dwelling piace for the ministry of a church,

You are, therefore, advised that in**our** opinion the property described in**your** request is exempt from State and county taxation by the plain and unambiguous provisions of the statutes previously discussed.

SUMMARY
The separate residence of **an**Assistant **Rector** is exempt from State and county advalorem taxes even,

Hon. 13urlccIlolman, page 3 (Opiniorl No. S-197)
though the residence of the Rector is also exempt, as long as they together occupy not more than one acre of land. Art. VIII, Sec. 2, Tex. Const.; Arts. 7150, 7150b, v. c. s. Yours very truly, APPROVED: W. V. Geppert Taxation Division J.Arthur Sandlin Reviewer J. C. Davis, Jr. Reviewer JOHN BEN SHEPPERD Attorney General of Texas
By hfG&.~ h?‘&$o~, TQMarietta McGregor Payne Assistant Attorney Gene al

‘L. W. Gray Special Reviewer Davis Grant First Assistant, John Ben Shepperd Attorney General