Is your agricultural exemption really working for you? Many landowners throughout Texas have found that maintaining their agricultural exemption can directly conflict with their reasons for owning property. Some of those landowners have found a better fit by converting to the wildlife management open spaces exemption, otherwise known as a wildlife exemption or wildlife valuation. It’s all the same. Under wildlife valuation, landowners can maintain their ag valuation tax rate while allowing you to focus on improving your property for wildlife.
Wildlife Valuation Background
Back in 1995 the voters of Texas voted 2-1 in favor of creating an open-space (agricultural) appraisal for land used to actively manage wildlife. The State Comptroller, with the assistance of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), and Texas AgriLife Services, was charged with creating the guidelines for qualifying lands for this tax rate. The original guidelines came out in 1996 and they were finalized in 2002.
The wildlife valuation program has been very successful in allowing rural landowners to diversify their income generating activities from livestock and row-crop management to include hunting leases, bird watching, fishing, and other nature-tourism related activities. It has allowed other landowners to invest their time and money in rehabilitating overworked land instead of continuing damaging practices to avoid residential or commercial taxes. It has the most beneficial to landowners whose property goals include the ative management of wildlife populations one their land. Continue reading Should You Convert Your Land to Wildlife Valuation?