E ORNEY GENERAL 

QF%-EXAS 

PRICE DANIEL 

.xrTOm?EY GENERAL 

April 12, 1948 

Hon. Gee. H. Sheppard 

Comptroller of Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas Opinion No. V-540 

Re: Accrual of penalty and interest on unpaid county 

taxes on the lands set apart 

to endow The University of 

Texae. 

Dear Sir: 

By your letter of March 16th we are advised that fin paying 

taxes due the counties on lands belonging to The University of Texas 

your Department “. . . in attempting to make the appropriation for 

each biennium extend as far as possible . . . has taken advantage of 

the statutes that authorize discounts and also in some instances bps 

paid to a certain county involved half the payment and let the other 

half go delinquent . . . The question of penalty and interest arises 

each year when any portion of the unpaid taxes is paid , . ,” Yau request that we &vise you as to ‘whether the State is required to pay 

penalty and interest on unpaid tmxes as above set out and whether l r 

not the present appropriation authorizes the payment of penalty and 

interest.” 

Section lb(a) of Article VII of the Constitution of the State 

of Texas reads as follows: 

“All land mentioned in Sections 11, 12 and 15 of Ar - 

title VII, of the Constitution of the State of Texas, new 

belonging to the University of Texas shall be subject to 

the taxation for county purposes to the same extent as 

lands privately owned; povided they shall be rendered 

for taxatien upon values fixed by the State Tax Board: 

and providing that the @ate shall remit annually to each 

of the hounties in which said lands are located an amount 

equal to the tax imposed up&m said land for icOunty pur - 

poses.” (Sec. 16(a), Art. VII, adopted Nov. 4, f930). 

In order to effectuate the above-quoted pro~vision the 42nd 

Legislature enacted S.B. 403, Ch. 93, Acts, Regular Session, 42&l 

Legislature, which act, carried as Article 715Oc, V.C.S., reads as 

follows: 
Hon. Geo. H. Sheppard, Page 2 (V-540) 

“Sec. 1. All the lands set apart for the endowment of the University of Texas by Section 15 of Article 7 of the Constitution of 1876, and by Chapter 72 

of the Acts of the Regular Session of the 18th Legislature, which are now unsold, are hereby declared 

to be subject to taxation for county purposes in the 

counties in which they are located, to the same extent as lands privately owned in said counties. 

“Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller 

of Public Accounts, from records in his office, to 

submit to the State Tax Board data as to value fixed 

upon privately owned lands contiguous to the University of Texas lands in the several counties. 

“Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner 

of the General Land Office to furnish the State Tax 

Board with maps showing the location of said Univer - 

sity of Texas lands, herein declared to be subject to 

taxation. 

“Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of the State Tax 

Board to place the valuation upon which said land 

shall be assessed and rendered for taxation. It 

shall further determine the taxable value of lands 

in each county separately. In arriving at its amount 

to be paid in taxes the value of the land only shall be 

considered, and not the value of any buildings or other 

improvements, owned by the State, and situated upon 

said land. 

“Sec. 5. The Tax Collector of each county which 

contains any of the land enumerated in Section 1, hereof, shall render to the Comptroller of Public Accounts 

by October 1 of each year a certified statement showing 

the values fixed by the State Tax Board upon said lands, 

the county rate of taxation, and the amount due said 

county as taxes upon said land. 

“Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller of 

Public Accounts to issue warrants upon the General 

Fund to pay taxes due each county, beginning with taxes 

assessed for the year 1931, and annually thereafter; said 

warrants to be issued and mailed to the several counties 

within the time as now provided by law for the payment 

of county taxes on privately owned lands.” Acts 1931, 

42nd. Leg., p* 136, ch. 93. 
. - 

Hon. Geo. H. Sheppard, Page 3 (V-549) 

In your request you state that *. . . since the adoption of 

the . . . Constitutional Amendment and also the enactment of S.B. 

No. 403 by the 42nd Legislature, this department has construed 

the law to mean that no interest and penalty would accrue on any 

portion of taxes becoming delinquent under the above mentioned 

law.” 

In 1931 this Department in Opinion No. 2853 considered 

various features of Article 7150~. The opinion makes the follows 

ing observation: 

“It will be noted that the Constitutional Amendment in question authorizes I&e tPxaUen of all lands 

see apart and appropri#%d as an endowment for the 

University of Texas, while the enablfng art (Senate 

Bill No. 403) limits that taxation to the one million 

acres set apart by the Constitution of 1876 and the 

one million acres set apart by the Eighteenth Legislature in 1883. For practical purposes this distinction is immaterial, because all of the more than 

200.6~00 acres embraced in the fifty league grant to 

the University by the Republic of Texas in 1839 have 

been sold, and all the University lands now unsold 

are embraced in the endowments ef 1876 and 1883.” 

The last legislative appropriation to pay such taxes is 

found in Section 2(b) of H.B. 246, Ch. 339, Acts, 50th Legislature, 

Regular Session. Section Z(b) reads, in part, as follows: 

“(b) In accordance with the ConsWutional requirement that taxes for county purposes only be 

paid by She General Fund to counties in which are 

located endowment lands set Wise to &! University 

of Texas by the Constitution of the State of Texas 

and the Act of 1883, and in further compliance with 

Senate Bill No. 403, Chapter 93, Acts of the Regular 

Session of the Forty-sesond Legislature, there is 

hereby appropriated to the State Comptroller of Public Accounts for the payment of taxes to sueh counties 

for county purposes only upon said University owned 

land the sum of not to exceed Sixty Thousand Dollars 

($60,000) for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1948, 

and the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) for 

the fiscal year ending August 31, 1949. Provided, 

however, that any moneys herein appropriated may be 

used for the.purpose of paying current and delinquent 

taxes that have accrued, or may accrue, under the provisions of the above-mentioned Constitutional Amendment and under Senate Bill No. 403, Chapter 93, Acts 

of the Regular Session of the Forty-second Legislature.” 
Hon. Geo.,H. Sheppard, Page 4 (V-540) 

posed for 

The general rule is that penalty and interest may be imnonpayment of taxes, but a statute which merely authorizes and provides for the levy of a tax does not carry with it penalties and interest, neither of which accrues in the absence of express 

provision therefor. R.C.L. Vol. 26, pp. 385, 386, Sets. 342, 343; 

51 Am. Jur. 849, and authorities cited therein; 61 C.J. p. 1482, Sec. 

2104; p. 1515, Sec. 2218, the last named section citing the following 

Texas cases which hold that interest is not recoverable on taxes 

unless the statute expressly so provides: Cave v. Houston, 65 Tex. 

619; Western Union Tel. Co. v. State, 55 Tex. 314 [rev. on other 

grounds 105 U.S. 460, 26 L. Kd. 1067); Edmonsen v. Galveston, 53 

Tex. 157. 

The provisions of the Constitution and of the statute which 

impose this particular tax upon lands otherwise exempt from taxation nowhere expressly provide for penalty and interest. The only 

language which might be construed to embrace penalty and interest 

is found in the proviso to the effect that such lands shall be subject 

to taxation for county purposes 

ly owned.” 

“to the same extent as lands privateWe are of the opinion that this phrase has reference to 

the particular county rate of taxation which the County Tax Collector 

uses in computing the amount of taxes due the county on said lands 

at the valuation fixed by the State Tax Board. See Section 5 of Article 7150~. Section 6 of Article 7150~ expressly provides that the 

warrants for these taxes shall be I’. . . issued and mailed to the 

several counties within the time as now provided by law for the 

payment of county taxes on privately owned lands”; but, as we have 

previously said, the imposition of a tax and prbvisions relating to , 

payment of same are insufficient to impose payment of penalty and 

interest in the absence of specific legislative authorization. We 

think that this particular case is the strongest possible case for 

the application of this rule for the reason that the State’s partial 

surrender of her sovereign immunity from taxation should not be 

enlarged by implication. 

The language used by the 50th Legislature in making the 

appropriation “for the purpose of paying current and delinquent 

taxes that have accrued, or may accrue, ~ . *” is consistent with 

the views we have expressed in this opinion. 

Although these views dispose of your question, it should 

be added that if there were any doubt as to the proper construction 

of Article 7150~. the practice of the departmental head charged with 

the duty of administering a statute carries great weight in determining the operation of that statute. Sutherland, Statutory Construction, 

6.5105, and authorities cited therein. The result we have reached in 

this opinion is in line with your Department’s consistent construction of Article 7150~ since its enactment. 
. - 

Hon. Gee. H. Sheppard, Page 5 (V-540) 

SUMMARY 

Article 715Oc, V.C.S., which provides that 

the State of Texas shall pay county taxes on lands 

owned by The University of Texas, does not im- 

,pose penalty and interest in the event of nonpayment of such taxes; nor does Section 2 of H.B. No. 

246, Ch. 339, Acts, 50th Legislature, Regular Session, appropriate funds for the payment of penalty 

and interest on any portion of such taxes as are 

past due. 

Very truly yours, 

ATTORNEY GENBRAL OF TEXAS 

MC/wb/JCP 

BY 

Mrs. Marietta Creel 

Assistant 

ATTORNEYGENERAL