Are properties of regional intermodal authorities (port and freight facilities created under Arkansas law) exempt from local property taxes assessed by counties, cities, school districts, and improvement districts?

Subject

Whether “all local and municipal taxes” in the Regional Intermodal Facilities Act includes property taxes on an authority's property.

Plain-English summary

Representative Andrew Collins asked whether the Act's exemption for the property of a regional intermodal authority covers property taxes. The AG answered yes as a matter of statutory interpretation. A.C.A. § 14-143-121(b)(1) says an authority's property is “exempt from all local and municipal taxes.” The opinion reads “all” broadly and treats cities, counties, school districts, and improvement districts authorized to levy taxes as political subdivisions whose property taxes fall within that wording.

The AG also points to § 14-143-121(a), which exempts an authority, subject to certain exceptions, “from the payment of any taxes or fees” to the state or its subdivisions. He says that provision also covers taxes payable to local political subdivisions.

A third possible basis is Article 16, § 5(b) of the Arkansas Constitution, which exempts “public property used exclusively for public purposes.” The Act calls an authority a public corporation. Whether a particular property is used exclusively for public purposes requires facts, and the opinion says the local tax assessor decides that issue. The AG cautions at the outset that he cannot definitively say whether a tax exemption applies to a specific property.

What this means for you

Regional intermodal authority staff

The opinion gives you the statutory interpretation to bring to a property tax question: “all local and municipal taxes” includes property taxes levied by the political subdivisions the AG lists. It does not decide the status of a named parcel or prescribe a procedure for contesting an assessment. Gather the facts about the property's ownership and use for the official who must decide its treatment.

Local assessors

The AG identifies the statutes that govern authority tax exemptions, then leaves property-specific application to factfinding. For the constitutional public-property exemption, determine whether the particular property is used exclusively for public purposes. The opinion cites Pulaski Cty. v. Jacuzzi Bros. Div. of Jacuzzi for the assessor's authority to decide exemptions on real property.

City, school district, and improvement district officials

The AG includes your types of political subdivision in his reading of the local tax exemption. The opinion does not resolve past assessments, order refunds, or decide how any particular property is used.

Common questions

Does “local and municipal taxes” include property taxes?

Yes. The AG says § 14-143-121(b)(1) includes property taxes imposed by political subdivisions such as cities, counties, school districts, and improvement districts authorized to levy a tax.

Is every parcel held by an authority constitutionally exempt?

The opinion does not decide that. For Article 16, § 5(b), it identifies ownership and exclusive public use as distinct requirements. The use question is fact-specific, and the local assessor decides it for a particular property.

Does the opinion address a lease to a private company?

No. It does not analyze leased property, a tenant's interest, or partial taxability. Those questions require a separate source and property-specific facts.

Does this opinion require a refund of taxes already paid?

It gives no refund direction. Its subject is how the exemptions are interpreted, with an express caution that application to a specific property is fact-dependent.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion reads two provisions of A.C.A. § 14-143-121 together. Subsection (b)(1) exempts an authority's property from “all local and municipal taxes.” Subsection (a), subject to exceptions, exempts the authority from payment of taxes or fees to the state and its subdivisions. To explain the first provision, the AG gives “all” its ordinary meaning and treats local and municipal taxing units as political subdivisions.

Article 16, § 5(b) supplies the separate constitutional category for public property used exclusively for public purposes. The opinion quotes a two-part ownership-and-use analysis and notes that the Act makes each authority a public corporation. It does not make a finding about the use of any specific authority property.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2025. Check current law and the facts of the particular property before relying on an exemption.

Citations

• A.C.A. §§ 14-143-101 to -129 (Regional Intermodal Facilities Act)
• A.C.A. § 14-143-104(a) (public corporation)
• A.C.A. § 14-143-121(a), (b)(1) (tax exemptions)
• A.C.A. § 12-9-102(4), § 15-6-103(5) (political subdivision definitions)
• Ark. Const. art. 16, § 5(b) (public property used exclusively for public purposes)
• Wickham v. State, 2009 Ark. 357 (ordinary meaning)
• Dermott Special Sch. Dist. v. Johnson, 343 Ark. 90 (2000) (political subdivisions)
• Pulaski Cty. v. Jacuzzi Bros. Div. of Jacuzzi, 317 Ark. 10 (1994) (assessor's role)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2024-094

May 2, 2025

The Honorable Andrew Collins
State Representative
Post Office Box 21473
Little Rock, Arkansas 72221

Dear Representative Collins:

You have requested my opinion regarding A.C.A. § 14-143-121(b)(1) of the Regional Intermodal Facilities Act. 1 Under that provision, “[t]he property of each authority [created under the Act] shall be exempt from all local and municipal taxes.” You ask: “What types of ‘local and municipal taxes’ are included within this exemption,” specifically “[a]re property taxes included?”

RESPONSE

Per A.C.A. § 14-143-121(b)(1), an authority’s properties are “exempt from all local and municipal taxes[,]” including property taxes. And A.C.A. § 14-143-121(a) contains an even broader tax exemption. Under that provision, an authority is, with certain exceptions, “exempt from the payment of any taxes or fees” to the State or its political subdivisions. Finally, an authority’s property may also be exempt from property taxes under Article 16, § 5(b) of the Arkansas Constitution.

DISCUSSION

Although I can opine on the interpretation of tax exemptions—and this Office has often done so 2— I caution that whether a tax exemption applies is a fact-specific issue upon which I cannot definitively opine. 3 I can, however, outline the principles that apply in making that decision.

1
A.C.A. §§ 14-143-101 to -129.
2
E.g., Ark. Att’y Gen. Ops. 2024-072 (interpreting sale-tax exemption), 2014-067 (regarding the tax exemption under the Regional Intermodal Facilities Act), 2009-054 (regarding the “disabled veteran” tax exemption), 91-371 (interpreting Act 9 revenue bonds tax-exempt statutes), 79-58 (interpreting whether a paper plant qualifies for tax exemption). 3 Ark. Att’y Gen. Ops. 2024-088, 2023-106, 2013-040.

The Honorable Andrew Collins
State Representative
Opinion No. 2024-094
Page 2

Essentially, authorities created under the Regional Intermodal Facilities Act are exempt from all state and local taxes under A.C.A. § 14-143-121. Subdivision (b)(1) states that authorities’ properties are “exempt from all local and municipal taxes.” And subsection (a) exempts authorities “from the payment of any taxes or fees to the state, or any subdivision thereof, or to any office or employee of the state, or any subdivision thereof[.]”

First, under A.C.A. § 14-143-121(b)(1), authorities’ properties are “exempt from all local and municipal taxes.” Because the terms “all” and “local and municipal” are not defined in the Act, I must “giv[e] the words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language.” 4 To that end, “all” means “the whole of (used referring to quantity, extent, or duration).” 5

And “local and municipal” commonly refers to a political subdivision, like a city or county, “includ[ing] a school district, fire district, transportation authority, and any other special-purpose district or authority.” 6 The Arkansas Supreme Court has held that a political subdivision (1) covers a certain area and residents, (2) is organized for the public interest, (3) is chiefly designed to exercise governmental functions, and (4) has electors residing within its area that are committed, to some extent, to the political subdivision exercising governmental power on behalf of the public.7 Similarly, numerous statutes define local government units as political subdivisions.8 Under A.C.A. § 12-9-102(4), “any county, municipality, township, or other specific local unit of general government” is a political subdivision. Likewise, A.C.A. § 15-6-103(5) defines a political subdivision as “a county, municipality, and any other unit of local government, including a school district and an improvement district, authorized by law to perform governmental functions.”

Based on the common understanding of “all” and “local and municipal,” A.C.A.
§ 14-143-121(b)(1) exempts authorities’ properties from all taxes by any political subdivision of the State, such as cities, counties, school districts, or improvement districts that are authorized to levy a tax. This includes property taxes assessed by those political subdivisions.

Second, and in addition to subdivision (b)(1), A.C.A. § 14-143-121(a) exempts authorities, with some exceptions, “from the payment of any taxes or fees to the state, or any subdivision thereof, or to any office or employee of the state, or any subdivision thereof.” The first part of the listing—

4
Wickham v. State, 2009 Ark. 357, at 5–6, 324 S.W.3d 344, 347 (“[W]e are mindful that the first rule in considering the meaning and effect of a statute is to construe it just as it reads, giving the words their ordinary and usually accepted meaning in common language.”). 5 All, Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 54 (2d ed. 1998).
6
See Local government, Black’s Law Dictionary 835 (12th ed. 2024) (using “local government” and “municipal government” as interchangeable terms and defining them as “[t]he government of a particular locality, such as a city, county, or parish; a governing body at a lower level than the state government”). 7 Dermott Special Sch. Dist. v. Johnson, 343 Ark. 90, 95, 32 S.W.3d 477, 480 (2000).
8
Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 2023-095 (listing statutes defining local government units as political subdivisions).

The Honorable Andrew Collins
State Representative
Opinion No. 2024-094
Page 3

“the state, or any subdivision thereof” 9—exempts authorities from local and municipal property taxes. As noted above, a subdivision of the State—such as a city or county—is a political subdivision. 10 Thus, authorities created under the Act are exempt from paying taxes to political subdivisions.

Finally, though not presented in your request, Article 16, § 5(b) of the Arkansas Constitution exempts authorities’ property from property taxes. Section 5(b) establishes a comprehensive list of real property that is exempt from taxation: “public property used exclusively for public purposes; churches used as such; cemeteries used exclusively as such; school buildings and apparatus; libraries and grounds used exclusively for school purposes; and buildings and grounds and materials used exclusively for public charity.” No other exemptions are allowed. 11 When interpreting the exemption for public property used exclusively for public purposes, the Arkansas Supreme Court has focused on “(1) ownership—real property owned by a for-profit company is ineligible for the tax exemption, and (2) use—the property must be used exclusively for public purposes, which excludes any profit making.” 12

As to ownership, A.C.A. § 14-143-104(a) states that “[e]ach authority [created under the Act] shall constitute a public corporation.” But the second half of the test requires factfinding, which is outside the scope of this opinion. Instead, the local tax assessor will determine if a specific property is used exclusively for public purposes. 13

Assistant Attorney General Jodie Keener prepared this opinion, which I hereby approve.

Sincerely,

TIM GRIFFIN
Attorney General

9
Emphasis added.
10
See Johnson, 343 Ark. at 95, 32 S.W.3d at 480 (“Counties are a political division of the State government, organized as part and parcel of its machinery, like townships, school districts, and kindred subdivisions.”). 11 Ark. Const. art. 16, § 6.
12
Ark. Att’y Gen. Op. 2023-044 (emphasis in original) (citations omitted).
13
Pulaski Cty. v. Jacuzzi Bros. Div. of Jacuzzi, 317 Ark. 10, 16, 875 S.W.2d 496, 499 (1994) (noting that the local tax assessor “is charged with the authority to decide questions of exemptions on real property”).