Living out in the country and owning acres of land are considered a peaceful luxury to some but a way of life for others.
In the State of Texas, citizens who use their land for agricultural purposes such as raising livestock, growing crops, or bailing hay are permitted special agricultural tax breaks.
However, in Cameron County, citizens that own less than three acres are being required to reapply with Tax Assessor’s Office to continue to receive these exemptions.
Layne Budd with the Cameron County Appraisal District explained the changes.
"It takes a certain amount of land to make some farming aspects feasible,” Budd said. “ ou can't bring a tractor to farm a small tract of land, it just doesn't work that way. Otherwise everybody would be claiming their yard I guess."
However, landowners with less than three acres of land have had these exemptions for many years.
They’ve been using their land to meet these agricultural requirements, but are now being denied these tax breaks.
A local landowner reached out to Action 4 News saying:
“The Cameron County Tax Assessor’s Office is now making all of us suffer by changing the requirements once again. They don't care about the hundreds and thousands of dollars they have required land owners to spend in order to qualify all these years, and now they're saying, ‘too bad.’ Once again, the tax burden is falling on the populations that live in the county, because they (the county) Can't manage their budget."
The Cameron County Tax Assessor’s Office says they ask these land owners to show receipts and proof that they are using it for these purposes, but if they fail to do so, they can no longer qualify.
"If they have no proof whatsoever then we usually tell them that they can go before the arbitration board and state their case there,” Budd said.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT