Question Submitted by: The Honorable Nathan Dahm, Oklahoma State Senate, District 332017 OK AG 17Decided: 12/20/2017Oklahoma Attorney General Opinions

¶0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following question:

> To redeem real property offered for sale by the county treasurer pursuant to 

68 O.S.2011, § 3105

I.

Background

¶1 In Oklahoma, all real property is subject to ad valorem taxation unless specifically exempt. See Liddell v. Heavner, 

2008 OK 6
180 P.3d 1191
68 O.S.2011, § 3101

¶2 Before 2008, tax sales involved a two-step process. First, if taxes on a particular property were delinquent as of April 1, the county treasurer was required to advertise and sell the property. See 

68 O.S.Supp.2007, § 3105
68 O.S.2001, § 3107
68 O.S.Supp.2007, § 3108
68 O.S.2001, § 3111
68 O.S.Supp.2007, § 3108

¶3 The second step occurred after the two-year redemption period. If a tax certificate had been purchased by an outside buyer and the property went unredeemed by the property owner, the treasurer would convey a tax deed to the buyer. 

68 O.S.Supp.2007, § 3118
68 O.S.2001 & Supp.2007, §§ 3125
68 O.S.2001, § 3129

¶4 In 2008, the Legislature replaced the two-step process--involving an initial sale and subsequent resale after a two-year redemption period--with a single sale. See 2008 Okla. Sess. Laws ch. 82. Now, "where taxes are a lien upon real property and have been unpaid for a period of three (3) years or more as of the date such taxes became due and payable," the county treasurer shall "advertise and sell such real estate for such taxes and all other delinquent taxes, special assessments and costs." 

68 O.S.2011, § 3105
1

¶5 The 2008 amendments also modified the redemption process. Now, a property owner may redeem his or her property offered for tax sale "at any time before the execution of a deed of conveyance therefor by the county treasurer[.]" 

68 O.S.2011, § 3113
2011 OK 99
270 P.3d 143
2014 OK CIV APP 108
352 P.3d 1262
68 O.S.2011, § 3131

¶6 Your question seeks clarification as to whether, under Section 3113, a property owner can redeem property subject to a tax sale by paying only the delinquency amount that initially created the lien or, instead, whether the owner must pay the entire tax delinquency accrued at the time of the sale.

II.

Discussion

¶7 To answer your question, we look first to the language of the statute itself. If that language is "plain and unambiguous and its meaning clear," no further interpretation is necessary. TRW/Reda Pump v. Brewington, 

1992 OK 31
829 P.2d 15
25 O.S.2011, § 1
2012 OK 31
276 P.3d 1017

¶8 As noted above, a property owner may redeem his or her property offered for tax sale by paying to the county treasurer "the sum which was originally delinquent" along with interest and additional costs. 

68 O.S.2011, § 3113

¶9 First, under the current process, property taxes become a lien on the property on the date the taxes become due and payable. 

68 O.S.2011, § 3101

¶10 Second, reading Section 3113 in the context of the tax sale statute as a whole lends further support to this conclusion. For instance, Section 3105 empowers the county treasurer to advertise and sell property for the initial delinquency amount plus "all other delinquent taxes, special assessments and costs[.]" 

68 O.S.2011, § 3105
2

¶11 Finally, the legislative history of Section 3113 also counsels in favor of this conclusion. See State ex rel. Rucker v. Tapp, 

1963 OK 37
68 O.S.Supp.2007, § 3113

¶12 It is, therefore, the official Opinion of the Attorney General that:

> 1. Real property subject to tax sale pursuant to 

68 O.S.2011, § 3105
68 O.S.2011, § 3113
> 2. The phrase "the sum which was originally delinquent" in 

68 O.S.2011, § 3113
68 O.S.2011, § 3105

Mike HunterAttorney General of Oklahoma

Grant CodyAssistant Attorney General

FOOTNOTES

1 In several of the tax sale statutes, the term "resale" remains despite the Legislature having done away with the two-step resale process. See, e.g., 68 O.S.2011, §§ 3105, 3125, 3127. In Chisholm Trail Construction, L.L.C. v. Mueggeburg, the Court of Civil Appeals resolved this apparent discrepancy by concluding that "[i]nstead of these two-tier processes there is a single sale for delinquent taxes which the Legislature has elected to term a 'resale.'" 2014 OK CIV APP 108, ¶ 20, 352 P.3d 1262, 1265.

2 This is also consistent with the State's policy of favoring redemption. In Sherrill v. Deisenroth, the Oklahoma Supreme Court addressed a property owner's right of redemption and the policy behind it:

> "The taking of taxes, or the taxpayer's property for taxes, is an involuntary exaction by the state, and the tax-gathering authorities must stay strictly within the provisions of the law authorizing the collection of such taxes or taking of such property. Nothing is to be indulged in their favor, or in favor of grantees of property sold for taxes and undertaken to be conveyed by the tax-gathering authorities." This Court has recognized that statutory provisions relating to redemption from tax sale must be construed liberally in favor of redemption.

1975 OK 136, ¶¶ 22-23, 541 P.2d 862, 866 (emphasis added) (quoting Price v. Mahoney, 1935 OK 1169, ¶ 11, 53 P.2d 257, 259). See also Garcia v. Ted Parks, L.L.C., 2008 OK 90, ¶ 31, 195 P.3d 1269, 1280 (concluding that "the statutory procedure for collecting delinquent taxes is to provide an opportunity for the county treasurer to collect taxes which are due" while "protect[ing] property owners and provid[ing] every opportunity possible for them to redeem their property before it is taken").