Agricultural Land Valuation in Titus County

Folks around here call it the "ag exemption," but it isn't an exemption at all. It's a different way of putting a value on your dirt. The Texas Tax Code calls it 1-d-1 open space appraisal, and instead of taxing your land at what a buyer would pay, it taxes the land at its farming productivity. On pasture running cattle in a county with as much rural land and as many head of livestock as Titus has, that productivity number lands far below market.

The Titus County Appraisal District is where you apply. That's the office that sets land values, not the one that mails the bill. Their forms cover the standard 1-d-1, a separate appraisal for timber land, and a wildlife management option. The wildlife path lets you keep the lower valuation if you take qualified ag land and put it under an approved wildlife plan, so brush, native habitat, and feeders can stand in for cattle.

Things change if you buy land carrying ag valuation and then quit working it. The county can claw back the difference for past years. That's the rollback tax, and it can be a real bill on a parcel that's been in ag use for a while. People who plan to build, subdivide, or just let the land sit get surprised by it more than anyone.