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 Statutes reads as 

follows: 

"All taxpayers shall be allowed discounts 

for the payment of taxes due to the State and 

all governmental, and $olitical subdivisions and 

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 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 discount 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,rable Franklin L..Smlth/Page 2 :. Opinion No. (C-338) 

. 

State or due My governmental or polit.lcal 

subdivision or taxing district of the.State, 

lf..such taxes are .paid thirty, (30) days before the. dat,e when they would. otherwise .become delinquent. Provided;howcver, that the 

provisions of this sectionshall.not apply 

to-'tiatcrlmprovement districts, irrigation 

districts, levee districts, Water control. 

districts; and other governmental. subdivisions, 

cities, towns and'indspendent school‘dlstricts 

.iinless and until the governing ..body offsuch 

water Improvement dlstrlcts,-irrigation distrrcts; levee' districts;water control dls- 

,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,.water control.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.rnment sub- 

.divlslons, city, town,pr‘lhdependent school 

'dlstr+ti shall-..have poiuer, by,the ordinance, 

resolution. or order levying the:annual.taxes, : 

to designate the 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 therefor under:7255bj it.has.been'the consistent ruling ~of the offlce'of the 'Attornsy General of this 

,State that 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's Opinions are 

affirmed: o-1262:(~ept; 8, 'lg3g)j 0-1187:(octi 13, 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: . 

"Pursuant to the express statutory warrant 

above'stated,'and to avoid interminable confusion 

In the keeping of accounts and the'issuance of " 

receipts by tax'assessors-collectors of the various 

counties of Texas, the Comptroller of 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 separatelyassessed parcel of-land, be paid at the same time. 

This long-standing regulation of the Comptroller 

has been, time out of mind, uniformly observed by 

the tax-collecting officials of various counties, 

and under such administrative regulation and ruling 

they have refused to issue receipt for part payment of ad valorem taxes appearing upon the general 

.tax rolls against-.any separately-assessed tract 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,departmental interpretation of 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 '(Form 40-2.62) 

for receipting,Full Payment or Last Half Payment of state and 

county ad valorem taxes charged on current-tax:rolls. This 

'form Is'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‘of tax assessorscollectors In 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 3; 7as sustaining their 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 Franklin L. 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 valorem taxes 

prior tci delinquency. 

------- SUMM.ARY 

State and cqunty ad valorem taxes against any 

separately-assessed tract' 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~NER cAmi 

'Att+rney General of Texas 

MMcGP:sjl 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEl$ 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman. 

Cecil Rotsch 

.Arthur Sandlln 

'W. E. Allen 

Pat Bailey 

APPROVED FOR THE Al?l!ORNEY GENERAL 

BY: Roger Tyler 

! 

. . 

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