Mr. Henry Wade Opinion No. WW-921
District Attorney
D&e; Cpoun; Re: Two questions on ColleCtiOn
* of taxes under Art. 7297,
R.C.S. 192.5.
Dear Mr. Wade:
You ask the opinion of this office on two questions:
1) Whether Art. 7297, R.C.S. 1925, applies to
all delinquent personal property taxes or
only to such taxes on personal property
as are back-assessed under authority of
thie article;
2) Whether suit for an amount less than
twenty-five dollars for taxes due on
personal property under this article Is
prohibited by this article.
Arti$le 7297 r~eadaas follows:
"The district or county attorney of the
'.respeotlve counties of this State. by order
of the commissioners court, shall institute
suit In the name of the State for recovery
of all money due the State and county as taxes
due and unpaid on unrendered personal pro-
perty; and in all suits where judgments are
obtained under this law, the person owning
the property on which there are taxes due
the State and county shall be liable for all
costs. The State and county shall be exempt
from Tiabillty for any costs growing out of
such action. All suits brought under this
article for the recovery of taxes due on
personal property shall be brought against
the person or persons who owned the pro-
perty at the time such property should have
been listed or assessed for taxation. No
suit shall be brought until after demand
is made by the collector for taxes due, and
. .,.,
. .’ L.
Mr. Henry Wade, Page 2 Opinion No. WW-921
no suit shall be brought for an amount less
than twenty-five dcll~rs. Sucl.SUitS ifl3J
be brought for all taxes so due and unpaid
for which such delinquent tax payer may be
in arrears for and since the year 1886.”
In answer to your first question:
We answer that Art. 7297 applies only to taxes due
the State and county as taxes due and unpaid on unrendcred
personal property, and which taxes have been back-aszcosed
as authorized bv this article and other articles. tSee
also the opinion of a prior Attorney General, Opinion No.
O-5862, 1944.)
In answer to your second question:
We answer that such a suit Is prohibited by this article.
We quote from two decisions of our Texas Supreme Court:
"If, therefore, the law makes the tax a
personal obligation of the taxpayer, it is
fairly within all the authorities that a right
to sue would exist In favor of the state or
municipal corporation entitled by statute to
exact payment of such taxes, unless another
remedy Is given. which'is exclusive in Its
character." City of Henrietta v. Eustis,
87 Tex. 14; 26 S.W. big (1894-). (The Court
held that the law does make ~the tax a per-
sonal obligation of the taxpayer.)
.that under Sections 13 and 15 of
Article VIII the legislature Is authorized
in Its discretion to provide for 'summary
sale' as the exclusive method or for judicial
sale as the exclusive method or for both
methods; . . .'I Duncan, Tax Collector v.
Gabler, 147 Tex. 229, 215 S.W.2d 155 (1948),
pFZgFi62.
Both of these cases involved suits for taxes on land, but
the law as therein Interpreted and applied is fully
applicable to your question which involves suit for taxes
on personal property. See also Mexla Independent School
Mst. v. City of Mexla, 134 Tex. 95, 133 S.W.2d 118, (1939)
at page 123.
Mr. Henry Wade, Page 3 Opinion No. WW-921
In conformity to Sec. 15, Art. 8 of our Texas Constitution,
considered In the above cases, the Legislature has provided
for summary seizure and sale of personal property for taxes
7273, and others). This pro-
(R.C.S., articles 7266, 72'7'2,
cedure is available for collection of the personal property
taxes due under Article 7297, where the amount of such tax
is less than Twenty-five Dollars.
SUMMARY
Under Article 7297, R.C.S., 1925:
1) only state and county taxes on
personal property back assessed
may be collected;
2) taxes for less than $25.00 may
be collected by summary seizure
and sale but not by sult.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
Assistant
WEA: jip
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE:
W. V. Geppert, Chairman
Ben M. Harrison
Phocion S..Park, III
W. 0. Shultz, II
FWBD FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
: Houghton Brownlee