Honorable Lloyd G. F!ouldin County Attorney -PaId mtlto county Palo Pinto, Texas DearSj.r: Opinion No 0..2227 Re: (1) Liability of farmtractor for advelorq taxes of indewdent school district; (2) Statu,t,@y right of tax assessor of :'ndemndent school distrkt to assess proparty for taxation where owner refuses to do so. This Department is In receipt of yo,ur letter of April 12, 1940, wherein you submit for om determination the two;@llow.i.n:: questions, which wequote tharefram: .~. "MrrL,?yd%. Stevens, TaxAssessor andCollector of the Santo Independent School District. has asked me:in wri~t5.n~-I~%0 obtain anopinion from your dea-tmen'c on the following questLons: "(1) Is a farm tractor subject to assessment for taxes? "(2) IP said tractor inssubject to assessment for taxes, what can the ta;: assessor of an Independent School distrrct dl3, I~fthe owner of said tractor refuses ts render said tractor for taxat?on?" Weconcu? in your conclvs!.on that c farm tractor is not exempt from ihe taxes levied hy on ?ndci)endent sch,ool d:strict under pertinent statlkes. In thiq connection, Article ;lk>, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, provides as follows: "All proi,erCy, real, personal or mixed, ek$ceptsuch as maybe hereinzliper expressly exe$@.ed, Is subject to taxation, and the same shall he rendered and listed aa herein prescribed." Article '7147provides that, "?&sons1 property, for the purposes of taxation, shall be construed &include all goods, chattels andeffects." andproceeds to enumerate certain species of personal property as beingHonorable Lloyd G. Bouldin, Page 2 (O-2227)

within the intendment of the tax stututes

. Nothing appears therein to remove a farm tractor from the 1” ‘-1 category of taxable personal property Article 7150, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, enumerates certain specific c*assifications of property, real andpersonal, which the legi;latu~e, under enabling provisions of the Constitution, has elected to exempt. Farm tractors not appearing there in, it must follow that they are subject to various ad valorem taxes, includi.ng those of independent school districts. Turning our attenti.on to your second question, it appears that the rights and duties of the tax assessor of an f~ndependentschool district are fixed and governed by applicable generel laws rel;-,lating the time and mannerfor the assessment of State andCounty advalorem taxes by county tar assessors-collectors. This is so by virtue of the following specific provisions of Article 2791, Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes:

“It shall ba within the discretion of the board of trustees of any independent school district t.onamean assessor of taxes whoshall asoesa the taxable property l*ichin the llmita of the Independent rahwl met within the time_-end In the mannarprovided by existing laws, in oo far .ai they are appJioable, andwhensaid arsarsraent hagbeen equalized/by abosrd of equaliesti.on appointed by the board of trr:tear for that purpna, ahall prepare the tax rolls of raid district and shall duly ‘n?.mand oertify oamcto tha county tax aolleotor as provided for in the sucaeedlng artlola.” ( Underscoring ours) these :Mrtinent general statutes are Articles 7192 and 7193, Vernon’6 ,,r.r;titated Civil Statutes, which provide, respectively, a6 followa:

“In every case where any person whose duty It is to lint anyproperty for taxation has refused or neglected to list the samewhencalled on for that purpose by the easesaor of texeo, or has refused to aubecrlbe to the oath in regard to the truth of hia statement of property, or any part thereof, whenrequired by the tax assessor, the .seseasor rhall note in a book the nahe of such person whorefused to llat or to swear; end in eysry case where anyperson required to list property for taxation has been absent or unable from slckncas to list the same, the tax assessor shell note In abook such fact, together withthe nameof such person. rr

“In all oases of failure to obtain a statement of real and personal property from any cause, the assessor of taxes shall ascertain the amountandvalue of such property and assess the same8s he believer, to be the true andfull value thereof; and such easeasment shall be as valid andbinding as If such property had been rendered by the proper owner thereof. ”mnorable kloyd C. Bouldin, Paze 

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It readily appears' from the foregoing statutory provisions that the tax assessor of Santo Indkpsndent School District would be authorized and r&ulred to 8esem the farm thactor In question for taxes of said school district, uponthe failure andrefusal of the owner thereof to rpler s*mefor taxation purposes. Trusting wehave fully answered your inquires, andwith best regards, weme Yours very truly, AT!EXNEYGENFFALQFTFXAS a/ Pat M.Neff, Jr.

Pat M.Neff, Jr.

Assistant 

### PMN:AMM/ldW AppRovED

wi 27, 1940 s/GERALD

c. MANN A!MORNEYGENERALOFTEXAS APPROVED

OPINION

COMMITTEE BYB. W. B. CHAIRMAN