Honorable Franklin L.

County Attorney Nueces County Corpus Christi, Texas

Dear Mr. Smith: Smith opinion No. (C-338)

Re: Whether the taxpayer has the right to pay his state ad valbrem tax early, taking advantage 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-Is

paid before It becomes delinquent.

You have requested an opinion of this office on the above captioned question.

Article 7255b, Vernon's Civil Statutesreads 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 vaiorem taxes due the State or due any governmental
or political subdivisionor 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 discount on ad valorem taxes due the State or due any governmental or political subdivisionor 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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State or due My governmentalor polit.lcal subdivisionor taxing district of the.State, lf..such

taxes are .paidthirty,(30) days before the.

dat,e when they would.

otherwise.become delinquent. Provided;howcver, that the provisionsof this sectionshall.not apply to-'tiatcrlmprovement districts,irrigation districts, levee districts,Water control. districts;and other governmental. subdivisions, cities, towns and'indspendentschool‘dlstricts .iinless

and until the governing ..body offsuch water Improvementdlstrlcts,-irrigationdistrrcts; levee'

districts;water controldls- ,tricts;'.and

other'governmental subdivisions, cities, towns:or independent. school district. :~ by ordlnance,,resolutton or 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 independentschool di'strlct elects to allow.~such~discoiu~ts,~ then.the.

govr erning body of each water improve.ment.dlstrlct; irrigationdistrict;levee~ district,.water control.dlstrict,

and:qther gove.rnment sub- .divlslons,

city, town,pr‘lhdependent school 'dlstr+ti shall-..have poiuer, by,the ordinance, resolution.

or order levying the:annual.taxes, : to designatethe months in which such dis-‘ .counts of three (34b)

per cent,'.tGo

(2$).per. ,centi and one (1%) per cent respectively.shall be~allowed,but In no event shall the same 'apply.to

-split. payment of taxes.."' .~ '.
Although there:& scme conflicts in the .holdings.of opinions during.prior:admlnistratidns of this office as to. whether allad yalorem.taxe's 'appearing

on the general tax ' rolls aa- any.one eeparately:asdessed parcel of land must be paid at the same time and as to the discount-to be allowed thereforunder:7255bjit.has.been'theconsistent ruling ~ofthe offlce'ofthe 'Attornsy Generalof this ,Statethat a taxpayer must pay his .State.and 'County ad valorem taxes at the.same~.tlme;.= To the extent of their speclfic'holdlng

on this point-.or.thelr~.recognltlon'of this'rule. the fo'llow$ng Attorney Cineral'sOpinionsare 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).

-16051Honorable 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:

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"Pursuantto the express statutorywarrant above'stated,'andto avoid interminableconfusion In the keeping of accounts and the'issuanceof " receipts by tax'assessors-collectors of the various counties of Texas, the Comptrollerof Public Accounts promulgateda regulation that all ad valorem taxes appearing upon the general tax rolls such'as state, county and common school district taxes, which the tax collectingofficials of:the countywere charged with collectingmust, as to any one separatelyassessed parcel of-land, be paid at the same time. This long-standingregulationof the Comptroller has been, time out of mind, uniformlyobserved by the tax-collectingofficialsof various counties, and under such administrativeregulationand ruling they have refused to issue receipt for part payment of ad valorem taxes appearingupon the general .taxrolls against-.any separately-assessed tract or parcel of land."
Althoughwe have been Informed bythe Comptrolier.'s Department that there.1~ no such offlclal specificregulation, such has been the,departmentalinterpretationof the law in so far as state and county ad valorem taxes are concernedas.evldenced by the' form of the State and County~TaxReceipt '(Form 40-2.62) for receipting,FullPayment or Last Half Payment of state and county ad valorem taxes charged on current-tax:rolls. This 'formIs'furnished tax assessor-collectors by the Comptroller without cost. A separate receipt is provided f&First Half Payments of State and County Taxes (Forni'40-2.23); The statement above quoted as to the uniform practice‘oftax assessorscollectorsIn this regard Is correct in so far +s.ilt&te and 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-11 7 3; as sustainingtheir result in principle. Opinion O-6124 points out thatno statute authorizes a tax collector to receive and receipt for state taxes wlthout, at the same time, collecting county taxes. We agree that these reasons stated in.the aforementioned opinions support their holdings.

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_ Honorable FranklinL. Smith, Page 4 Opinion No. (C-338)

Since state and county taxes against any separatelyMsessed'tract or parcel of 'land: must be paid at the same time,
a fortlori,Article 7255b,V.C.S., doe.s not permit a discount for @arly payment of state ad valorem taxes- even though the taxpayer later .tenders payment of his county ad valoremtaxes prior tci

delinquency.

SUMM.ARY

------- State and cqunty ad valorem taxes againstany separately-assessed tract' or,parcelof land must be paid at the same time. Article 7255b, V.C.S., does not authorizea discount for early payment of state ad valor&m taxes even though county ad,valoremtaxes are paid prior to delinquency;

Yours very truly,

~~AGG~NER

cAmi 'Att+rney

Generalof 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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