The Chamber has been working to fight for the renewal of Chapter 313, which is the part of the Texas Tax Code that allows school districts to limit property taxes on major new investments in Texas. Chapter 313 is set to expire in 2022, and it must be reauthorized in this session or the valuable economic development tool it provides will go away.
Texas’ success in economic development over the past 25 years is often referred to as the Texas Miracle. Texas was endowed with much that is enviable. Texas is located in the middle of the United States and virtually in the middle of the Americas. The climate is hospitable with adequate rain. Texas is also home to an abundance oil and gas reserves, timber and grasslands. The word miracle seems to overlook the contribution of ingenious and industrious Texans.
It took dams and reservoirs to turn rain into an abundant supply of water. It took creativity to develop an electric grid that assures Texans abundant electricity. It was the entrepreneurial spirit of Texans that created bandwidth and infrastructure to support the rise of manufacturing and service businesses. This also attracted 1,000 folks a day to immigrate to Texas from other states and countries.
It was the Texas government which created a low-tax, minimal-regulation environment that is attractive to business owners from other regions and outside the US. Realizing that there is competition from other states and countries for business relocations, Texas also has proactively added incentives to make the decision to locate to the Lone Star State easier. One of these proactive incentives is Chapter 313, the property tax limitation authorization for school districts in Texas to incentivize the location of large, capital intensive businesses in their districts.
For more important data about chapter 313 click on this link.