One of the practical considerations that you may encounter is trying to decipher a convoluted statute passed into law by a state legislature. With this assignment, we are going to take the information from the lecture on tax abatements and see if you can decipher the steps and timelines necessary to obtain a tax abatement agreement from a county in Texas. To get you started, the statute we are looking at is Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code. Keep in mind that you will need to make sure that the necessary resolutions, guidelines, and steps have been taken, and that everything is posted as appropriate.

With respect to Chapter 312 of the Texas Tax Code, answer the following:

1. What are the two things a county must resolve and/or adopt in Texas to grant a tax abatement?
2. After a county has accomplished the items from Question 1 above, what is the next step for discussing an abatement with a particular applicant? (hint: think project area)
3. What part of the code states what must be in the actual agreement? Is it incorporated to counties by reference to a different section of the code?
4. What are the statutory timeline requirements?