Bill Text: TX HJR171 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Proposing a constitutional amendment exempting tangible personal property from ad valorem taxation.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-03-31 - Referred to Ways & Means [HJR171 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HJR171-Introduced.html

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89R640 RDS-D
By: Money H.J.R. No. 171

A JOINT RESOLUTION
proposing a constitutional amendment exempting tangible personal
property from ad valorem taxation.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(b) All real property [and tangible personal property] in
this State, unless exempt as required or permitted by this
Constitution, whether owned by natural persons or corporations,
other than municipal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value,
which shall be ascertained as may be provided by law. All tangible
personal property in this State is exempt from ad valorem taxation,
except as provided by Subsection (b-1) of this section.
(b-1) If before January 1, 2026, an ad valorem tax on
tangible personal property is pledged for the payment of a debt, the
appropriate tax authorities may continue to levy and collect the
tax against that tangible personal property at the same rate as the
pledged tax until the debt is discharged, if cessation of the levy
and collection of the tax would impair the obligation of the
contract by which the debt was created. This subsection applies to
tangible personal property that was taxable under the law in effect
on January 1, 2025, but that became exempt under Subsection (b) of
this section on January 1, 2026, as a result of the amendment of
this section adopted by the voters in 2025 to exempt all tangible
personal property from ad valorem taxation.
SECTION 2. Section 8, Article VIII, Texas Constitution, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 8. All real property of railroad companies shall be
assessed, and the taxes collected in the several counties in which
said real property is situated, including so much of the roadbed and
fixtures as shall be in each county. [The rolling stock may be
assessed in gross in the county where the principal office of the
company is located, and the county tax paid upon it shall be
apportioned as provided by general law in proportion to the
distance such road may run through any such county, among the
several counties through which the road passes, as a part of their
tax assets.]
SECTION 3. The following provisions of Article VIII, Texas
Constitution, are repealed:
(1) Sections 1(d), (e), and (g);
(2) Section 1-i;
(3) Section 1-j;
(4) Section 1-n, as proposed by S.J.R. 47, 77th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2001;
(5) Section 1-n, as proposed by S.J.R. 6, 77th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2001;
(6) Section 1-p;
(7) Section 1-x;
(8) Section 19; and
(9) Section 19a.
SECTION 4. The following temporary provision is added to
the Texas Constitution:
TEMPORARY PROVISION. The constitutional amendment proposed
by the 89th Legislature, Regular Session, 2025, exempting tangible
personal property from ad valorem taxation takes effect January 1,
2026, and applies only to taxes imposed on or after that date. This
temporary provision expires January 1, 2027.
SECTION 5. This proposed constitutional amendment shall be
submitted to the voters at an election to be held November 4, 2025.
The ballot shall be printed to permit voting for or against the
proposition: "The constitutional amendment exempting all tangible
personal property in this state from ad valorem taxation."