Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1895-05-10
THE SCHOOL FUND.
An Opinion Of Much Moment to Tax
Payers and Collectors Relating to
Revenue from License.

Fe N. NJ.
Santa Fe, N. M, May 6, 1s95.--Dea
SIT: am in receipt of your letter i
which you request my official opinion a
to the licenses upon which collectors ar
entitled to receive commission, and ca
pecially as to whether they are entitled
to receive commission for the collec
tion of retail liquor licenses under H. b
No. l16, passed by the last legislature
The bill in question is entitled "An ac
for the compensation of collectors ant
sheriffs and ex of1icio collectors and as
SCISSORS"
The provisions of the BILL so far ms
they apply to collectors, are as follows:
section l. That all collectors of the
counties of the first class and sheriffs and
ex-officio collectors of counties of the
second class, shall collect all taxes and
licenses now remaining unpaid and also
that may hereafter be levied and assessed
and shall receive as compensation for
their services per cent of the amount
collected"
The last section of said bill also makes
the county collector and assessor the Off
clals for the same purpose in cities and
towns, thereby expressly repeating the
act approved February 23, 1898, found in
chapter 72 of the laws of 1898, relating to
the assessment and taxation of property
in cities and towns.
The general law enumerating the Ii
censes which shall be allowed and issued
is found IN section 1901 of the compiled
laws of 1894. In the sections immediately
following is set forth the machinery un-
der which such licenses shall be issued.
These sections provided that in cases
where parties desired to have issued to
them any of the licenses enumerated in
section 290l, they shall apply to the as
SCISSOR who shall, after making assessment
report the same to the county clerk. This
latter official, after having issued the IL
cense in accordance with the assessment,
turns the license over to the collector
who collects the amount due thereon and
delivers the license to the person to
whom it Is issued. This law, except
where altered by subsequent legislation,
rs STILL IN FORCE.
Now what changes have been made in
this law by Legislative enactment?
The law of 1891, page "a, provides, in
effect, that licenses for the retail sale of
intoxicating liquors shall be issued by the
county clerk and turned over to the ap-
plicant upon the payment of the proper
license fee by said applicant into the
hands of the county treasurer. It will be
noticed that this law affecting retail liquor
licenses repeals the law as embodied in
sections 1901, ct seq. of the Com piled
Laws above referred to and makes the
county clerk and the county treasurer the
only parties to the collection of retail
liquor licenses.
The other legislation on the sub ject of
licenses is to be found in the laws of 1887,
page So, and the laws of 1898, page 46,
where it is enacted that the gaming
licenses shall be assessed and collected
lin the manner prescribed by law as in
the case Of other licenses" The laws of
1891, page 81, fix the amount Of class of
peddler's licenses, but do not state how
they shall be collected. In the absence of
statutory regulation it is to be presumed
that the last two classes of licenses are to
oe collected accor ding to the general law
Is embodied In the sections 29O1, ct seq. of
The Compiled Laws. In the case of retail
liquor Licenses, however, the method of
collection is plainly specified. The law
Is it stood up to the beginning of the
present year seems, therefore, to provide
hat all licenses with the solitary excep-
ion of retail liquor licenses for which
eparate system is provided, shall be
granted through the probate clerk, the
assessor, the collector and the treasurer;
md that as to all licenses with the single
Exception of that of retail liquor licenses
he collector is entitled to the percentage
llowed by law. The next question which
PRESENTS itself is as to the status of the
etail liquor licenses under the act ap-
'roved February 20, 1895, and above re-,
erred to. The law previous to the one
ust cited, allowing as we have seen, no
PERCENTAGE TO COLLECTORS G
o far as retail liquor licenses are con- :
erned, does the act approved February !
5, 1896, make such an allowances 1t
GEMS to me clear that it does not. While a
is true that the first section of that act ;
rovides that the collector shall collect '
all taxes and licenses now remaining un.
aid," it can not be conceived that this n
taken in connection with it's h
ontext and the law previous to the pass d
ye of the bill, is intended at one fell a
voop to repeal the whole liquor law of v
'91, covering as it does more pages than o
lere are lines in the section referred to. q
Repeal by implication is not favored and
not to be adopted unless it be in. z
1itable. Any reasonable construction
hich offers an escape from it is more
kelly to be in consonance with the real
tentlon." Endlich Oh Interpretation of
;Rtutes, Sec. 2l0. u
II must be remembered in constituting "
Q meaning of the words from the act y
st quoted that there was no separate p
ice of tax collector in this territory q
:eyious to January l, 1895, and that it b,
as not clear when the last legislature F
ct by whom taxes left uncollected by n,
Q sheriff and ex-officio collector should b,
} collected in counties where the separ- fo
Q Office of collector had come into ex- &
tence on January l, 1896. It was to .
tile this question, doubtless, that the
yislature enacted this section making it
Q duty of the newly created collector to in
llect "all taxes and licenses left unpaid" ro
his predecessor. But his predecessor al
Is not entitled to collect and receive al
for retail liquor licenses;
ither, therefore, is the collector entitled =
do so. This view IS made more GER