Article VII, Section 6a of the Texas Constitution
Added November 2, 1926:
All agriculture or grazing school land mentioned in Section 6 of this article owned by any county shall be subject to taxation except for State purposes to the same extent as lands privately owned.
Editor Comments
This section is an exception to Article XI, Section 9 and, in substance, it overrules the central holding of the 1888 Texas Supreme Court decision referenced below.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Childress County v. State, 92 S.W.2d 1011, 1015-16 (Tex. 1936) ("The land involved is agricultural school land. The title to same reverted to Childress county in February, 1933. . . . This is for the benefit of the state as well as for the benefit of the counties. When the title to this land reverted to Childress county, it also, in a certain sense, reverted to the state. Greene v. Robison, 109 Tex. 367, 210 S.W. 498. While this precise question, so far as we know, has never been determined by this court, we think the great weight of authority sustains the rule that when the title to this land reverted to Childress county, the tax lien for state purposes became merged with the ownership of the land by the county.")
- Daugherty v. Thompson, 9 S.W. 99, 102 (Tex. 1888) ("Section 9, of article 11, however, exempts from taxation 'property of counties, cities, and towns owned and held only for public purposes . . . . In view of the provisions made by the constitution of this state for the establishment and maintenance of public free schools, no one would contend that lands held by counties for that purpose were not held solely for a public purpose. Lands so set apart, and solemnly appropriated for a purpose so essentially public as is the maintenance of public free schools, must be said to be 'property devoted exclusively to the use and benefit of the public.' Such property the constitution exempts from taxation.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)