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Honorable GeorgeH. Sheppard

Comptroller of PublicAccounts Austin, Texas

Dear Sir: OpinionNo. O-2968 Re: The penalty to be charged a dellnquent tax payer, interpretingHouse Bill No. 76, Forty-seventhLegislature.

In your letter of July 1, 1941, you request our oplnlon Inresponse to the followingquestions:

"Arenders three tracts of land on which the taxes are delinquent for two years. On the assessment for the real estate each year he also rendered personal propertyvalued at $1,000as well as poll taxes for himself and wife. The personal property taxes, also the poll taxes are delinquent and appear on the delinquent tax recordswith the real estate.

"Bholds a lien on one tract of the delinquent real estate and desires to pay the delinquent taxesdue on the tract onwhich he holds
a lien but refuses to pay the taxes on the other two pieces of property, also the taxes due on the personal property and poll taxes. Even though B pays all of the delinquent taxes due
on this specificpiece of land,would he not be required to pay a penalty of six per cent on the amount of taxes due on the tract of land onwhich he holds a lien?

"Arenders one tract of land and personal property valued at $1,000 for the years 1937, 1938 and 1939 also poll taxes for himself and wife. The taxes on the real estate,personal property and poll taxes are delinquent for three years. B holds a lien on the tract of land and desires to pay all of the delinquent taxesdue
on the property but refuses to pay the personal property taxes and the poll taxes. Would the tax assessor-collectorbe authorized to acceptHonorable GeorgeH. Sheppard, page 2 o-2968

the payment on the landwithout collecting the penalty of sixper cent referred to inHouse Bill 76, or should he charge the lien holder the six per cent because he Is not paying all of the delinquent ad valorem and poll taxes due by A."
Sections 1 and 3 of saidHouse Bill 76 read as follows:

"Section1. That all interestand penalties that have accrued on all ad valorem and poll taxes thatwere delinquent on or before July 1, 1940, due the State, and county, common school district, road district, levee improvementdistrict,water Improvementdistrict, and water control and improvementdlstri.ct,irrigationdistrict, and otherdefined subdlvlslons of the State (and, subject to the provisionshereinbefore and hereinafter contained, such Interest and penalties on delinquent ad valorem and poll taxesdue cities, towns and villages, and special schooldistrlcts,snd independentschool districts,) shallbe and the same are hereby released, provlded said ad valorem and poll taxes
are paid on or beforeNovember 1, 1941. It is provided that the provisions hereof shallnot apply to cities, towns, and villages and special schooldistricts, and independent schooldlstricts, unless and until the governj,ng body of any such city, town, or village, or special school district, or independentschooldistrict finds thatunusual or excessivedefault ln the payment of ad valorem and poll taxes has occurred,and that an extension of time for the payment of such delinquent ad valorem and poll taxeswill promote and accelerate the collection thereof,whereupon such governing body shall. adopt a resolution or ordinance evidencing such finding, and upon the recording of such findings of fact the provisions of this Act shall be in full force and effectas to any such city, town, or village, or special schooldistrict, or independentschool district. It is hereby expresslyand specificallyprovided that penalties and Interestherein released are released only on delinquent ad velorem and poll taxes and on no other taxes."
"Section j. Anyone desiring to pay at one time all the delinquent taxes for only one year wherein such taxes are delinquent for more than
one year shall have the right to pay the samebut.

Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 3 o-2968

without remission of penalties and Interest;provided, however, that any persons availing themselves of the benefits of thisAct shallbe required to pay all delinquent ad valorem taxesdue the State and county on any specificpiece of property onwhich such taxes are delinquentbefore the penalties and interestmay be released
as hereinprovided; conditioned that a six per cent (64%)

penalty on the total amount delinquent be paid on such property."

We will refer to our OpinionNo. 0-3657whereinwe expressed the view that If a person owes taxesdelinquent on severalpieces of property he may single out one piece and pay the delinquent taxes assessed against it, if he does so of course,within the life of saidHouse Bill 76, wlthout paglng other delinquent ad valorem and poll taxes owning by him ;iLa4;;t in such acase hewill have topay a six per cent (6$)

. We answer your first question in the affirmative. In our opinion itdoes not make any differencewhether then delinquent taxes are paid by the land owner or by the holder of a lien against the particular tract uponwhich the delinquent taxes are to be pald. It is of no concern to the State
as towhich of such parties pays the tax.

Our answer to your secondquestion is that the tax assessor-collectorwould not be authorized to accept the payment on the landwlthout collecting the penalty of sixper cent (6%)referred to inHouse Bill 76 but that he should charge the lien holder the SIX per cent (6%)penalty levied in Section 3. From a full consideration of saidAct we have reached the conclusion that Itwas the Intention of the Legislature to release all penaltiesand Interest if the tax payer would make payment of all delinquent ad valorem taxes owed by him, but that If he should choose to pay the delinquent taxes on a piece of property selected from among other pieces on which taxes also were delinquent hewould have to pay a six per cent (6%)penalty on the amount of the delinquent taxes so paid on the selectedproperty. Thus some inducement Is offered the tax payerwho pays all the delinquent taxes on a part only of his property, but a heavier Inducement is offered if he ~111 pay all delinquent ad valorem taxes owedby him. In the last fact situation submittedby you the tax payer is paying on a specificpiece of property, leaving otherdellnquent ad valorem taxes unpald, and Tn our opinion fallswithin the six per cent (6%) levy of penalty made in Section 3. Since you mention delinquent poll taxes and to avoid any misunderstandlngwith respect to that item, itwould be well perhaps for us to express our view concerning the effect ofHouse Bill 76 ondelinquent poll tax penalty and interest. It 1s,

Honorable George H. Sheppard,page 4 o-2968

our opinion thatHouse Bill No. 76 releases any and all such penalties and interest on delinquentpoll taxes if suchdelinquent taxes are paid within the life of saidAct. Nor does the six per cent (6%)penalty apply to delinquent poll taxes underang conditions. Hence, no penaltywill be collected on delinquent poll taxes prior to November 2, 1941.

Yours very truly

ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS

By s/GlennR. Lewis Glenn R. Lewis Assistant

GRL:db:wc

APPROVED JULY 12, 1941 s/GroverSellers FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEYGENERAL Approved Opinion CommitteeBy s/BWB Chairman