Agricultural Land Gets a Lower Tax Value in Cameron County

Texas law lets farm or ranch land be taxed on what it produces, not what it would sell for. This is called a 1-d-1 special appraisal. It usually means a much lower tax bill. In the Rio Grande Valley, irrigated cropland and citrus groves often qualify.

To be eligible, the land must have been used for agriculture for at least five of the past seven years. If you later change the land to a non-farm use, you owe a rollback tax. That tax covers the three years before the change. Apply at the Cameron Appraisal District. They check eligibility every year.