Honorable Franklin L. Smith opinion No. (C-338)
County Attorney
Nueces County Re: Whether the taxpayer
Corpus Christi, Texas has the right to pay
his state ad valbrem
tax early, taking ad-
vantage of the discount
afforded by Article
7255b, V.C.S., and pay
his county ad valore~m
tax at a later date,.
without discount. so
long as said.county ad
valorem taxi-Ispaid
before It becomes de-
Dear Mr. Smith: linquent.
You have requested an opinion of this office on the
above captioned question.
Article 7255b, Vernon's Civil Statutes reads as
follows:
"All taxpayers shall be allowed discounts
for the payment of taxes due to the State and
all governmental,and $olitical subdivisionsand
taxing districts of the State, said discounts
to be allowed under the following conditions:
(a) three (3%) per cent discount on ad vaio-
rem taxes due the State or due any governmental
or political subdivision or taxing district of
the State, if such taxes are paid ninety (90)
days before the date when they would‘otherwise
become delinquent; (b) two (2%) per cent dis-
count on ad valorem taxes due the State or due
any governmental or political subdivision or
taxing district of the State If such taxes are
@aid sixty (60) days before the date when they
would otherwise become delinquent; (c) one (1%)
per cent discount on ad valorem taxes due the
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Hono,rableFranklin L..Smlth/Page 2 :. Opinion No. (C-338)
.
State or due My governmentalor polit.lcal
subdivisionor taxing district of the.State,
lf..suchtaxes are .paidthirty,(30) days be-
fore the.dat,ewhen they would.otherwise.be-
come delinquent. Provided;howcver, that the
provisions of this sectionshall.not apply
to-'tiatcrlmprovementdistricts, irrigation
districts, levee districts, Water control.
districts;and other governmental. subdivisions,
cities, towns and'indspendentschool‘dlstricts
.iinlessand until the governing ..body offsuch
water Improvementdlstrlcts,-irrigationdis-
trrcts; levee'districts;water control dls-
,tricts;'.andother'governmentalsubdivisions,
cities, towns:or independent. school district.
:~by ordlnance,,resoluttonor order; shall.
adopt'the.provlsions.hereof; and in the event.
any ,such"water'improvement district, irrigatlo'n
district, levee.dlstrict,.watercontrol.dis--
trlct, and other:.governmental subdivlslods,
city; town.or independent school di'strlct
elects to allow.~such~discoiu~ts,~
then.the.govr
erning body of each water improve.ment.dlstrlct;
irrigation district;levee~district,.water
control.dlstrict,and:qther gove.rnmentsub-
.divlslons,city, town,pr‘lhdependentschool
'dlstr+ti shall-..havepoiuer,by,the ordinance,
resolution.or order levying the:annual.taxes,:
to designate the months in which such dis-‘
.countsof three (34b)per cent,'.tGo(2$).per.
,centiand one (1%) per cent respectively.shall
be~allowed, but In no event shall the same
'apply.to-split.payment of taxes.."'.~ '.
Although there:& scme conflictsin the .holdings.of
opinions during.prior:admlnistratidns of this office as to.
whether allad yalorem.taxe's 'appearingon the general tax '
rolls aa- any.one eeparately:asdessedparcel of land
must be paid at the same time and as to the discount-to
be allowed therefor under:7255bj it.has.been'theconsist-
ent ruling ~ofthe offlce'of the 'AttornsyGeneral of this
,Statethat a taxpayer must pay his .State.and'Countyad
valorem taxes at the.same~.tlme;.=
To the extent of their
speclfic'holdlngon this point-.or.thelr~.recognltlon'of
this'rule. the fo'llow$ngAttorney Cineral's Opinions are
affirmed: o-1262:(~ept; 8, 'lg3g)j0-1187:(octi13, 1939);
O-6124 (NOV. 9 1934); 0-6290 (~ecr 15, 1944); o-6397 (1945);
and V-734 (1948).
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Honorable P'rank1d.n
&. ~mi~h..P$;g~
.J @inibn @( (c-338)
We quote the following excerpt from page 2 of Attorney
General Opinion NO. o-1262: .
"Pursuantto the express statutory warrant
above'stated,'andto avoid interminable confusion
In the keeping of accounts and the'issuance of "
receipts by tax'assessors-collectorsof the various
counties of Texas, the Comptrollerof Public Accounts
promulgated a regulation that all ad valorem taxes
appearing upon the general tax rolls such'as state,
county and common school district taxes, which the
tax collecting officials of:the county were charged
with collecting must, as to any one separately-
assessed parcel of-land, be paid at the same time.
This long-standingregulation of the Comptroller
has been, time out of mind, uniformly observed by
the tax-collecting officials of various counties,
and under such administrativeregulation and ruling
they have refused to issue receipt for part pay-
ment of ad valorem taxes appearing upon the general
.tax rolls against-.anyseparately-assessedtract or
parcel of land."
Although we have been Informed bythe Comptrolier.'s Department
that there.1~ no such offlclal specific regulation, such has
been the,departmentalinterpretationof the law in so far as
state and county ad valorem taxes are concerned as.evldenced
by the'form of the State and County~Tax Receipt '(Form40-2.62)
for receipting,FullPayment or Last Half Payment of state and
county ad valorem taxes charged on current-tax:rolls. This
'form Is'furnished tax assessor-collectorsby the Comptroller
without cost. A separate receipt is provided f&First Half
Payments of State and County Taxes (Forni'40-2.23);The state-
ment above quoted as to the uniform practice‘of tax assessors-
collectors In this regard Is correct in so far +s.ilt&teand
county ad valorem taxes are concerned.
w, 251 S.W. 277 (Tex.Civ.App.1923),
which'held that a tax collector could refuse to accept state
and,county taxes tendered without pa ment of a wife's poll tax,
iscited in Opinions o-1262 and O-113;7 as sustaining their result
in principle. Opinion O-6124 points out thatno statute author-
izes a tax collector to receive and receipt for state taxes wlth-
out, at the same time, collecting county taxes. We agree that
these reasons stated in.the aforementionedopinions support their
holdings.
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., .
Honorable Franklin L. Smith, Page 4 Opinion No. (C-338)
Since state and county taxes against any separately-
Msessed'tract or parcel of 'land:must be paid at the same time,
a fortlori, Article 7255b, V.C.S., doe.snot permit a discount
for @arly payment of state ad valorem taxes-even though the
taxpayer later .tenderspayment of his county ad valorem taxes
prior tcidelinquency.
SUMM.ARY
-------
State and cqunty ad valorem taxes against any
separately-assessedtract'or,parcel of land must be
paid at the same time. Article 7255b, V.C.S., does not
authorize a discount for early payment of state ad
valor&m taxes even though county ad,valorem taxes are
paid prior to delinquency;
Yours very truly,
~~AGG~NERcAmi
'Att+rneyGeneral of Texas
‘. ‘_
MMcGP:sjl
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEl$
W. V. Geppert, Chairman.
Cecil Rotsch
.ArthurSandlln
'W.E. Allen
Pat Bailey
APPROVED FOR THE Al?l!ORNEY
GENERAL
BY: Roger Tyler
!
..
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