Taxing Entities or Authorities are schools, cities, counties, and other local governments that have jurisdiction over your property. These entities use property appraisals determined by the Appraisal District to set their budgets and the property tax rates. They collect taxes based on the final rates set and spend on schools, roads, hospitals, police and fire departments, and other programs.

Panola County Taxing Authorities include (as applicable to property address) cities; the school districts (ISDs) ; Panola County; Panola College; Panola County Emergency Services District #1; and the Panola County Ground Water Conservation District. Taxing entities are required to provide notices on their proposed tax rates and hold public meetings.

• The details of the total tax rate imposed and levies collected by each of these taxing units can be found on the state comptroller’s website here and a summary of all the county taxing authorities is here.
• The budgets of each taxing entity are finalized when the tax rates are set.
  • Learn how tax rates are adopted here.
• Tax notices are then issued in late September.
  • Panola County Budgets here
  • Panola College Budgets here
  • Panola County Groundwater Conservation District Budgets here
  • Carthage City Budget Information here
• YOU, the taxpayer, funds the majority of county government via the property tax, or ad valorem tax. This is the largest revenue source for Texas counties. In Panola County, the 2023 assessed market value of property = $8,868,626,421

Property Taxes and Tax Rates

• Property tax system basics here and here (a 2024 publication by the Texas Comptroller’s office)
• Information about how tax rates are calculated can be found here. 
• What do those Tax Rate terms mean? Truth in taxation information can be found here (diagram) and here (detailed definitions).
• Want to understand your appraisal notice and how tax rates are calculated? Learn more from the Texas Comptroller here.

Start working NOW to affect the next Texas budget by educating yourself on the “how” and engaging with your representatives today. Waiting until you receive your property tax notice is too late.

• A report on the high and rising burden of property taxes here
• To understand why local governments must limit spending read here.
• One option for tackling the Texas debt is detailed here
• An explanation of tax compression is here.
• Property Tax Exemptions publication: Learn more here.
• Learn about Appraisal Review Board (ARB) Protests here.

Panola County Appraisal District: Located on Ball Park Rd near the Carthage Baseball Complex. The office can be contacted at (903)693-2891.

• The appraisal district staff appraises the local real estate and personal property accounts.
• Powers and duties of the Appraisal board are here. 
• Frequently asked questions (and answers) about property taxes can be found here.

School (ISD) Debt Bonds: School bond debt is repaid using local property taxes. With interest, the bonds’ total cost to taxpayers is much higher than the dollar amounts shown on the ballot. 

• Every bond is a property tax increase because the local tax liability is increased. This is true regardless of whether or not the tax rate changes when a bond first passes the bond debt is repaid using the portion of property owners’ taxes designated for “Interest and Sinking” (I&S) expenses.
• Other school district expenses, such as teacher salaries and other classroom-related costs, are paid using property taxes collected for “Maintenance and Operations” (M&O).
• Information about School District Property Values and Tax Rates can be found here. 
• Information about tax compression and why this is better than exemptions is provided here.

Lawmakers passed the largest budget increase ever in its 88th Legislative session – details here. For a closer look at the financial health of Texas, see here.

Texas is NOT fiscally conservative. As of December 2023, each Texan shoulders $15,500 in Texas debt, read about the debt rate surge here. That is due in large part to the property taxes levied and collected by local governments: city, county, and school (ISD).

• A detailed look at the 2023 property taxes in Texas’ most populous taxing entities is here.
• A recap of this skyrocket in local debt is here.
• Texans For Fiscal Responsibility digs through the numbers and shows how property taxes are growing faster than the average taxpayer can afford. The article detailing the nearly historic property tax relief passed in SB2 in 2023 is here.
• Overall fiscal health of Texas and your county can be found by learning about the Texas Bond Review Board.

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