Property tax / Agriculture
Agricultural Land Valuation: How Ranch and Farm Land Gets Taxed
Farm and ranch land in Brooks County can be taxed on what it produces, not what it would sell for. This can cut the tax bill by a large amount.
Brooks County has a strong ranching tradition. Much of the land is used for cattle, brush-country wildlife, or melon farming.
Texas law lets qualifying farm or ranch land be taxed on its productivity value — what the land can produce — instead of its market value. The productivity value is usually much lower, so the tax savings can be large.
To qualify, the land must have been in agricultural use for at least 5 of the past 7 years. It must also be managed at a level normal for the area. Wildlife management use can also qualify if the land already had an ag valuation and is actively managed for native wildlife.
You apply at the Brooks County Appraisal District using state form 50-129 for open-space agricultural use.
If you stop farming or ranching and change the land to a different use, you will owe a rollback tax. That is the difference between taxes you paid and what full market-value taxes would have been for the past three years. Talk to the appraisal district before you change the land use.
The Texas Comptroller publishes the full rules for agricultural special appraisal on their website.
Source to confirm: Agricultural, Timberland and Wildlife Management Use Special Appraisal — Texas Comptroller