OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
Honorable T. D. Sansing
County Attorney
Hansford.County
s* zuman, Texas
Dear Sir':
Opinion No. O-7415
Are trucks o
Xe are in receipt of your
wherein you request an opinion 0
to tho above captioned questi
“The Federal Gove
trucks to tha t; ion Conser-
vation District
and for its ex
district mad
vehicles as
ment has tak
not come und t will entitle
e letter from
and the appli-
the district.
You have not stated in your oninion request whether the
vehicles in question.sreto be operated upon the public highways
of Texas or not, but, for the purpose of this opinion, we are pre-
suming that they are to be so used.
Article 6675a-2, V.A.C.S., provides in Dart as fol101.s:
"Every owner of a motor vehicle, trailer or
oeni-trailerused or to be used upon the public
highmyo of thio :Itatesh:illn:;,:,J.y
each -yearto the
SQlLe Hi&way I~epurtnlcn.~
i;!umr,hthe Cw1ty Tax
Collector of the county in which he rosidos for the
IW&tI'ation Of CclCh SUCh VC?hiCle OwlCd a* controZ].cd
by kdm for the ensuing or current calendar year or I:n-
erpirod portion ti?oreof;.. .!I
Article G675a-3,v.i..c.i).,
providea in part ns follows:
'1.. + .Owners of notor vehicles, triloro and
se:~L-trai1erswhich are the property of, snd used
osclusivolyin the service of the i'nitedStates gov-
erment, State of Tems, or cny comty , city or school
district thereof, shall ap$.y annual.l.y
to register all
such vehicles but shall not be required to pay the
registration1eos herein presoribcd. . .n
The IiansfordCounty Yind Erosion ConservationDistrict was
orgmieed under Article l&a-2, V.A.CL?., an'd. such Article pmti&s
that districts created under the i.ctshall be go-vwmontal ngoncies
and bodies politic and wm prcsum that the eppliccitlon for c:&npt
re~;istration is bacod on the proposition
submitted by such di.st.ri.ct
that bcinz a ::ovcrmentalagency, it is e;ieaptfrom taxation. HOW-
ever, the fee provided Sor in the re$stration statute is not a tz0z
but is a license fee for the -privilegeof ol>eruting motor vehicles
upon the public highways of this Stato. Atkins v. state IIi&ray
Depmtment, 201 3, ;i4226.(mik of error refused.)
Article 6675~2, eupra, is FLU.inclusive oriddoes cot n&e
any Tovision to exenpt vehicles owned by political subdivisions
of the state. Article 6675a-3, suprn exeqts from the pqment of
re;;istrationSees certain ~;ov*rrment~a&encios specificallytherein
mentioned. It is cla.arfrom the wording of the two above mentioned
statutes tk&t t&o Logielature han provided that all.o-err; of motor
vehicle5 which are operatedupon tho public highways of this state
shall pay the,lPcensefoes provided except those which are epecifi-
tally enumertied in Article 6675~1-3,and the rules of statutory con-
structionwill not perm4.tus to ez&end the exenptioneto political
subdivisionsof this FItato~!hichare not specificallymentioned in
saitiArticle 6675a-3.
;;ak.vc previouslyheld in 0~in.3.0~1 80. 0-26Cl9'thattihe
Doxar-i.;edina-AtaocosaCounties Xater knrovement District Do. 1 is
not exempt, fmn the paymnt of motor voki,clcfees,enc? we erc en-
closing a copy of such opinion for your irGcormation.
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