Houston, Harris County and a Local School District Can Pursue Their Suit Over Out-of-Town Housing Tax Breaks, a Texas Appeals Court Rules
Three Houston-area government entities can proceed with their lawsuit against appraisal authorities over tax exemptions claimed by housing finance corporations from outside the area, after a Texas appeals court ruled Tuesday that a state tax code provision waives governmental immunity in the circumstances at issue.
Three Houston-area government entities can proceed with their suit against appraisal authorities under a state tax code provision waiving governmental immunity in certain circumstances, a Texas appeals court ruled Tuesday, Bloomberg Law reported.
The fight is over housing finance corporations. Texas allows local governments to sponsor the nonprofits to help facilitate affordable housing projects. Harris County, the city of Houston and a school district in the county targeted a controversial practice in which so-called "foreign" housing finance corporations - sponsored by a government somewhere else - secure tax exemptions on property outside their sponsoring jurisdiction.
The Houston-area taxing units had asked the Texas Court of Appeals, Fourteenth District, to reverse a lower court's determination that governmental immunity barred the case. Tuesday's ruling lets the suit proceed under the tax code provision the entities relied on.
The ruling decides who gets into court, not who wins: the underlying dispute over whether the out-of-town corporations' exemptions stand will now be fought on its merits. Space City Daily will update this file as the case moves.
