OFFICEOFTHEATTORNEY GENERALOFAUSTIN

HonorableErnest Gulnn CountyAttorney El Paso, Texas

Dear Sir:

oorded

In your letter of A
our opinion aa to whether a c ture of trust exeouted by El State Street Trust Company, a 6, 1939,must be @tamped be itted to record.

In 1926 the Eleot d exeouted an indenture~oftrust es to secure oertainbonds lseu inetrument contained olaua6s sub to ita provlfiion mental indentur desoribing such first such sup ~waeexecuted. d supplementaltrust red subsequent to the Indenture in 1929.
ve security,there bedates or other terms Of Instrumentawere executedHonorable Ernest Guinn, page 2

"(a) Except as herein otherwiseprovided there ia~hereby levied and assessed
a tax of Ten (log) Cents on each One Hundred ($100.00)Dollars or fraction thereof,
over the first Two Hundred ($200.00)Dollars,
on all notes and obligations securedby chattelmortgage, deed of,trust,mechanic18 lien contract,vendor's lisn,,aondltional sales contract and all inetruments of a similarnature which are filed or recorded, in the office of the County C&erk under the Registrationlaws of this State5 provided that no tax shallbe levied on lnetruments securingan amount of Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars, or 1888. After the effectivedate of thisAct, except as hereinafterprovided,
no such instrument ahallbe filed or recorded by any County Clerk in this State until there has been affixed to such Instrument stamps in accordancewith the provieiona of thir section;providing further t&t should theinstrumentfiled in the office of the County Clerk be securityof an obligation that has propertypledged as security in a State or States other than Texas,'.'the tax shallbe ~~ based upon the reasonable cash value of all property pledged in Texas in the proportion that said property in Texas beara to the totalvalue of the property securing the obligation;and, providing further that, except as to renewalsor extensions of accrued interest,the proviaiona of this section shallnot apply to instruments given in renewal or extansions of instrument8 theretofore stampedunder theprovisions of this Act or the one amended hereby, and shall not apply to instruments given in the refunding of existing bonds or obligationswhere the preceding inatroment of securitywas stamped in accordancewith this Aot or the.
one emended hereby; provided further that the tax levied in this Act shall apply to only one instrument,the one of the greatest denomination,where several instruments are oontemporaneouslyexecuted to secure one obligation;and provided further,thatwhen :'Honorable Ernest Guinn, page 3

once stampedas povided herein, aninetrument may be recorded in any number of counties in this State without again being so stamp&. This section shall not apply to lnstrumentd; notee, or other obligationstaken by or on behalf of the United States or of the State of Texas, or any corporate agency or inatrumentality of the'

United States, or CCthe :. State of Texas in carrying out a governmental purposeaa expressed in any Act of the Oongreaa of the United States or af the Legislature of the State of Texas, nor shall the provisions of this section apply to obligationsor inatruments secured by liens on crops and farm or agriculturalproduots, or to livestock or farm implements,or an abstract of judgment."

The instrument in question is in the nature of
a deed of trust. In our conference opinionNo. SO61 we expreseed the view that the.tax levied by this statute Is upon the privilege of using the records in the offlce of the county clerk. Attention is particularly called to that part of the statute reading,

"After'the effectivedate of"thlaAct, except aa hereinafterprovided/no rjuchinatrument shallbe filed or recorded.

. . until there hae been affixed to such instrument stamps in accordancewith the provisions of this sect1on.v

No exception Is made of such an instruemtnaa this one. The Act doea not exempt a deed of trust merely by reason of the fact that the obligation securedwas in existenceat the.time the legislationwas.enacted. Nor does it exempta deed of trust or other lien instrument merely by reason of the fact that the obligation secured is also securedby another deed of trust, unless such other deed of trwt has been stamped. Such is not the case here. On the other hand a reading of the Act disclosesrather clearly an intentto require that at least one lien Instrument eeouring a note or other ob-' ligation shall be stamped if accepted for record.F@norable Ernest Guinn, page 4

In our opinion the instrument eubmitted to
us must be stampedunder said Article 7047e.

Youra very truly

ATTORNEY GENEXAL OF TEXAS

BY Glen?..R. Lewis ~'Aeaistant GRL:LN’
A.PFSOVEiD

APR 20, 1940
(8)Grover Sellere. FIRST ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

By BWB Chairman