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822
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9 OFFICE OF THE A’TTORNEY
AUSTIN
BENERAL OF TEXA6
A
f
GCRAW c. MINN
~no.Imv
O~“~UL
Uonorable Calvin C. WiYman
Aoting C?lohnan
Appropriations Committee
mouse or wpreoentutives
Austin, Texas
ernlng the oonstltu-
ua. The Bill is as
SUWI Of TIl@BQyherein-
ereof as may be neees-
out of the i3eneral
of paying taxea due by
t eohool dietriot naae&
endent School Metriot for the
ed ana Seventy Dollars and
$270.74)) sad for the year lace,
y Dollars and ltlmty Cente
e total for the two (2) years
renty-one Dollars and Slrty-four
cents ($6521.64).
*8lPCTLOlY 2. The fact that Article 2764l3Of the
m3tissd Civil Statutes or Texas, 1926, and Article
7~0, Section 2-A and Section 3-8, Acts of the Forty-
first Legislature, Fifth Called tiession,Chapter 4T
and Chapter 48, pages 190 azd 191, Saotion 1 of es&
823
Honorable Calvin C. lifufmn - page 2
chapter, provides that the State shaX1 pay tuea
oreatea an canergeneyaad aa tmpemttte publio
necessity that the Constitutional Rule requiring
bills to be read cm thretolweral days in eaoh
House be suepemled, and said Rule is hereby me-
pended, and this Act shall bake effeat and be In
force from asxl after its passage, and it is so
enaotell.*
It ie the opinion of thin department that the Bill
if enaoted into lor will be oonetitutional.
Article 27&&b oited by you is ae follewrt
"860. 1. That friia and after the sfmge oi
this Aot, all laud in absrokee Oounty, c exam, owned
by the state of Texas ord PIson Qozarad~6iao of Tex-
as, except the la& htietofore set aside fog the
Rusk State Uospital, but focl~ the Iani%hereto-
fore set aside to the Agrioultural t Ymhanioti Oel-
lege for re-f'oreotrationpurposem, shall be #ubjeQt
to taxation for who01 pnrpoeea where any euah land
Is embraced within the mete8 and bounds of any inde-
pendent or Go1111pOl8
och001 diatriet.
*sec. 8. mO8'0 ooj SUOh hlld if8 0SX?Jl'~GsdW&th-
in them&es anabounds of any Independent or -11
sohool dletrict, the l'ruoteeeof the Indegenhnt
Sohool M&riot, of the Comi8sioners* Court for a
aoIl SehOOl MSttiGt, u-6 hereby authorlsed to
levy and oawmto be aaeemsed and ool~eutad tuem
fdr rohool purporresfor the amount and in the man-=
ner JWGaGribsd by the BenOral Lars for thG levy of
eGhoO1 taX80.*
Artiole 7160, Vernon*8 i&wlsed Civil Statutee, deals
vith the eubjeat of exemptiOna from taxation. Secrtions$a and
3s of that Artiole oontain prorio that are pertine&. l'hsy
are a8 foll4m38
*Sea. 2-s. prwided that any territory tlurt
has been aotpA.r& or may,hceafter be Mqul~Bd,
by the State et Texas, a8 a t of any State
prison @arm or property, shsir
1 not hereafter be
exempt from the payment of Its pro rata part of
any bead tax of a publio who01 dtatriot Of++hpoh
824
nonorable Calvin C. Huffman -.page S
the said territory was a part at the time
bonds of the said district which are now
outstanding were issued, or which is a part
or said district at the time of the issuance
of bonds which may hereafter be voted; and
the pro rata part of said tax that shall be
paid by eaid territory &all be the propor-
tionate part that the aeeewmd valuation of
such territory for county prposes is of the
total assessed valuation of the school die-
trict for the year in which such taxes are
asseseed. Provided, aleo, that the said
bond tax shall be paidby the gwernlng
board of management of the State Prison Sys-
ten out of any Putis appropriated therefor
by the Legislature. It is hereby apeclfioal-
ly prorid& that the said bond tax shall be
paid for eaoh year that has elapsed einoe aq
such territory of a sohool dietrict was ao-
q#red by the State for and as a part of said
prison ayatem, if any bonds were then outstand-
-kc*
'Sea. 3-a. Provided that any territoq
that has been acquired or may hereafter be ao-
quired, by the State of Texas, ae a put af
any State Prison Farm or property, shall not
hereafter be exempt .from the payment of its
ro rata part of any maintenance tax of a pub-
E e school district of which the said terri-
tory was a part at the time tvai%maintenance
tax of the said district whioh are now out-
standing was voted, or which is a part of eald
diotriet at the time any maintenance tax may
hereafter be voted by sala district 5 and the
pro rata part of said tax that shall be paid
by said territory shall be the proportionate
part that the asseeeeclvaluation of suob terri-
tory for county purposes i63of t&e total atv-
se88ed valuation of the school diptriet for
the year in wbieh i,euahtaxes are aivseeeed.
Prwlded, also, that the aatd maintenance tax
shall be paid by the gwernfng Board or hanage-
ment. of the State rrfson System out of any
funde appropriated thereby by the Legkslature.
It is hereby epeoifioally proolded that the
said maintenance tax &all be paid for eaeh
825
IfouorableCalvin Cr Buffmau - page 4
year that has elapsed eince any euch terri-
tory of a school dietriot was aoqufred by
the State for and as a part of said prieon
syetem.~
The queetion of the right of the Leglelature to
subject the State to the payment of taxes &as ogler been
dwided by our SupreoleCourt eo.far as re hare bean able
to dhumrer + The subjeot, however, has been dimuseed by
the greatest oonstitutional writer perhaps, Judge Cooley.
At page lwt, Vol. 2, of his Constitutional Llmitationo
(8th edition) he sayer
"A etate may, if it sees tit, tax the
property orned, held, srd uwd by ltoelf or
ite nunioipalities r0r public purposes but
this would 60 obviously be umise and inpoll-
tia that the intent ta do EO is ILBIBCaa-
uuaed, but public property ie always, by ia-
pl&aatlou of law, exempt from the operation
of the general term af tax lam.*
Ia Opiulon 20. C-11161,
by this department, under
date December 14, 1229, it was held that preparty aom8yed
to the Board of Regents of the State Uxlveiwity by 8eorgs
Daggs and Mike Hogg was the pro erty of the State, and as
6u8h, wan exempt from all taxatf on, under the Constitution
and lam of the Nate.
It faa noted in that opinion, however, thatr
"If Se our opiuion that land beloggiag to
-the State a? Texas io'exempt from taxatjionun-
leas there is an 4n3dua-
&Qk.” tB;slphaais
It msy be added that there is nothip& fx our Con-
~t;itutionforbidding the Legislature to make the State lia8le
for taxes upon Its own proparty. T&at being true, re are~of
the opknion that the Le@elature io the %erOise af ite broad
power of ensating laws has the authority, if it eeea fit to
exercise it, thus to tax the wmreign itself.
y AFx:,:;=;~.a'm
9, lD& Very truly yours
I$52d / ~A &?w ATTOR85X f.+ItHEfUL
OB TEXAS /,/ -