Amends TCA Title 67, Chapter 5, Part 7.

Article II, Section 28 of the state constitution authorizes the legislature to enact tax relief for elderly, low-income taxpayers and disabled homeowners regardless of age. <br /> <br /> Present law authorizes the legislative body of any county or municipality to adopt the property tax freeze program. To qualify, the homeowner must be at least 65 years of age and have low income. <br /> <br /> This bill expands the present law property tax freeze program to also include applicants who, in lieu of qualifying under present law low-income provisions, meet the following criteria:<br /> <br /> (1) Are at least 65 years of age by the end of the year in which the application is filed;<br /> (2) Own and use the property as the applicant's principal residence for which the freeze is sought;<br /> (3) Have used the property for which the property tax freeze is sought as the person's principal residence of the applicant for not less than 30 consecutive years and the assessed value of the property has increased at least 50 percent based on a periodic county reappraisal of the property in comparison to the immediately preceding periodic county reappraisal of the property.<br /> <br /> This bill authorizes the legislative body of any county or municipality, in adopting a property tax freeze program in accordance with this bill, to require that a property's value must have increased in assessed value by more than 50 percent above the baseline assessed value of the property for purposes of qualifying for a property tax freeze under this bill. After a taxpayer qualifies for a property tax freeze under this bill, if the assessed value of a taxpayer's residential property is determined by a subsequent periodic reappraisal to be less than 150 percent of the baseline assessed value of the property, the taxpayer will cease to qualify for the property tax freeze program for the next reappraisal cycle. A taxpayer who ceases to qualify for the property tax freeze program may reapply and requalify for the program if a subsequent periodic reappraisal after disqualification establishes that the assessed value of the appraised residential property has increased at least 50 percent above the baseline assessed value of the property. <br /> <br /> Taxpayers qualified for the property tax freeze provided by this bill must apply for the property tax freeze after each periodic county reappraisal. <br /> <br />