Judges: JOHN CORNYN, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 4/27/2001
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Office of the Attorney General — State of Texas John Cornyn Mr. Robert J. Huston Chair, Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission P.O. Box 13087 Austin, Texas 78711-3087
Re: Whether certain types of property at new facilities qualify for a tax exemption as pollution-control property under section
Dear Mr. Huston:
Section
Before addressing your specific questions, we briefly review the legal framework. In 1993, the legislature proposed an amendment to the Texas Constitution, which the voters approved, providing for an exemption from ad valorem taxation for real and personal property used to control pollution.2 That constitutional provision, article VIII, section 1-l, provides as follows:
(a) The legislature by general law may exempt from ad valorem taxation all or part of real and personal property used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by any environmental protection agency of the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this state for the prevention, monitoring, control, or reduction of air, water, or land pollution.
(b) This section applies to real and personal property used as a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution that would otherwise be taxable for the first time on or after January 1, 1994.
(c) This section does not authorize the exemption from ad valorem taxation of real or personal property that was subject to a tax abatement agreement executed before January 1, 1994.
Tex. Const. art.
At the same time the legislature proposed this constitutional amendment, it also enacted section
With respect to defining property eligible for the tax exemption, section 11.31 provides in pertinent part:
(a) A person is entitled to an exemption from taxation of all or part of real and personal property that the person owns and that is used wholly or partly as a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution. A person is not entitled to an exemption from taxation under this section solely on the basis that the person manufactures or produces a product or provides a service that prevents, monitors, controls, or reduces air, water, or land pollution. Property used for residential purposes, or for recreational, park, or scenic uses as defined by Section 23.81, is ineligible for an exemption under this section.
(b) In this section, "facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution" means land that is acquired after January 1, 1994, or any structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment, or device, and any attachment or addition to or reconstruction, replacement, or improvement of that property, that is used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by any environmental protection agency of the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this state for the prevention, monitoring, control, or reduction of air, water, or land pollution. This section does not apply to a motor vehicle.
Id. § 11.31(a), (b). Consistent with the constitutional provision, the statute provides that the tax exemption may not apply to a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution that was subject to a tax abatement agreement executed before January 1, 1994. See id. § 11.31(g). In addition, the legislation enacting section 11.31 provided that this tax exemption applies only to pollution control property that is constructed, acquired, or installed after January 1, 1994. See Act of May 10, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 285, § 5(b), 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 1322, 1325.
The TNRCC is charged with administering the statute by determining whether property qualifies for the pollution-control tax exemption. Specifically, the TNRCC is charged with determining "if the facility, device, or method is used wholly or partly as a facility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution." Tex. Tax Code Ann. §
You ask whether certain types of property at new facilities qualify for a tax exemption as pollution-control property under section
The owner of a new [electricity-generating] boiler elects to construct the facility so that it will emit less NOx [emissions] than is required to meet best achievable control technology or the requirements of 30 TAC Chapter 117. . . . [T]he emissions level could be achieved by adding controls to the end of the process. Alternatively, the same emissions level could be reached by a unit that is designed to achieve more complete combustion.
Request Letter, supra note 1, at 3. You ask us to assume that the equipment would meet or exceed environmental requirements.
Your question is as follows:
Is equipment, of a type new to a location, that is used to make a product and by its design limits pollution, or add-on control equipment installed on new equipment, within the category of property used for pollution control under §
11.31 of the Texas Tax Code?
Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. We gather your concern is whether a distinction should be made between measures taken to address pollution that is already being generated by an existing facility as opposed to pollution that will be generated in the future by a new facility. You also want to know whether pollution-reducing production equipment and add-on control equipment should be treated differently.
As there are no Texas judicial opinions addressing the contours of the section 11.31 tax exemption, the issues you raise are questions of first impression. When construing a statute, "our primary objective is to give effect to the Legislature's intent."Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Ashworth,
First, we consider whether the statute should apply differently to new versus old facilities. Section 11.31 is broadly written, and we believe its plain meaning is clear. It embraces any property, real or personal, "that is used wholly or partly as afacility, device, or method for the control of air, water, or land pollution." Tex. Tax Code Ann. §
land that is acquired after January 1, 1994, or any structure, building, installation, excavation, machinery, equipment, or device, and any attachment or addition to or reconstruction, replacement, or improvement of that property, that is used, constructed, acquired, or installed wholly or partly to meet or exceed rules or regulations adopted by any environmental protection agency of the United States, this state, or a political subdivision of this state for the prevention, monitoring, control, or reduction of air, water, or land pollution.
Id. § 11.31(b). This broad definition is not inconsistent with the constitutional provision authorizing the tax exemption. See Tex. Const. art.
Section 11.31 makes no distinction between property controlling pollution generated by an existing facility and property controlling pollution generated by a new facility. The statute contains only one temporal limitation. In order for land to be exempt, it must be acquired after January 1, 1994, the statute's effective date. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. §
Next, we consider whether section 11.31 excludes from its scope pollution-reducing production equipment. Significantly, the statute applies to property used "wholly or partly" for pollution control. See id. § 11.31(a). To qualify for the exemption, property must be used "wholly or partly" to meet or exceed environmental rules. See id. § 11.31(b). The term "wholly" clearly refers to property that is used only for pollution control, such as an add-on device. See Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary 1351 (10th ed. 1993) (defining "wholly" to mean "to the full or entire extent: . . . to the exclusion of other things"). The term "partly," however, embraces property that has only some pollution-control use. See id. at 848 (defining "partly" to mean "in some measure or degree"). This broad formulation clearly embraces more than just add-on devices. Furthermore, that statute clearly embraces not only "facilities" and "devices" but also "methods" that prevent, monitor, control, or reduce pollution. "Methods" is an extremely broad term that clearly embraces means of production designed, at least in part, to reduce pollution.See id. at 732 (defining "method" to include "a way, technique, or process of or for doing something").
Based on its plain language and the common meaning of the terms "wholly," "partly," and "method," we conclude that section 11.31 clearly extends to, in your words, "equipment . . . that is used to make a product and by its design limits pollution." Request Letter, supra note 1, at 2. We stress, however, that under section 11.31 the owner of pollution-reducing production equipment, property that serves both a production and a pollution-reduction purpose, is not entitled to a tax exemption on the total value of the property. Rather, pollution-reducing production equipment may receive only a partial tax exemption. The TNRCC has been charged by the legislature with determining what portion of such property is a "facility, device, or method for the control" of pollution. See Tex. Tax Code Ann. §
We have received several briefs that argue that pollution-reducing production equipment should not receive a tax exemption because production equipment is a source of pollution and is designed to produce rather than reduce pollution. This argument ignores the broad scope of section 11.31. Again, section 11.31 exempts not only those facilities, devices and methods that are wholly used to control pollution, but also those that are used only partly to control pollution. Furthermore, if the TNRCC grants tax exemptions only to that portion of property that reduces pollution, the portion of the property that produces pollution will not fall within the scope of the exemption and will be taxed.
In sum, in answer to your question whether "equipment, of a type new to a location, that is used to make a product and by its design limits pollution, or add-on control equipment installed on new equipment" falls within the scope of section 11.31, we conclude that both add-on control equipment installed in a new facility and pollution-reducing production equipment installed in a new facility qualify for a tax exemption under that provision. However, the TNRCC must administer the tax exemption to grant exemptions to only that portion of property that actually controls pollution. The legislature may want to provide the TNRCC with additional guidance regarding the proper criteria for assessing what portion of property actually controls pollution.4 In addition, the constitution permits the legislature to narrow or eliminate this tax exemption for pollution-control property if it determines that the exemption is burdensome to taxing units or unfair to other taxpayers. See discussion supra pp. 1-2.
Yours very truly,
JOHN CORNYN Attorney General of Texas
ANDY TAYLOR First Assistant Attorney General
SUSAN D. GUSKY Chair, Opinion Committee
Mary R. Crouter Assistant Attorney General — Opinion Committee
Baptist Memorials Geriatric Center v. Tom Green County ... , 851 S.W.2d 938 ( 1993 )
Mitchell Energy Corp. v. Ashworth , 40 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 501 ( 1997 )
RepublicBank Dallas, N.A. v. Interkal, Inc. , 28 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 516 ( 1985 )
North Alamo Water Supply Corp. v. Willacy County Appraisal ... , 804 S.W.2d 894 ( 1991 )
Bouldin v. Bexar County Sheriff's Civil Service Commission , 12 S.W.3d 527 ( 1999 )
Rooms With a View, Inc. v. Private National Mortgage Ass'n , 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 9119 ( 1999 )