The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1911-12-08
COUNTY ATTORNEY GIVES
CONSTRUCTION OF TAX LAW

GUh5lKUGllUh Ut IM LAM
The following is the opinion Of
County Attorney c. Caldwell relative
70 the collection Of taxes
vinita, Okla Dee. ]. 1911
Hon. z. D FIcklin.
County Treasurer.
vinita. OklahoA a
Dear Sir At your request vii
give you my construction Of the laws
.of Oklahoma. in reference to the time
.of payment Of taxes. VIII say how
ever that hesitate 70 do 50 for the
reason that the construction is in d.
rect conflict with the attorney gen
erals Office
Chapter 120 Of the session laws Of
.1sll. Il first glance seems ambiguous,
but b. reviewing the general revenue
Jaw enacted By the legislature in 1909
and the amendment made thereto in
1910, the law Of 1911 becomes more
clear.
Section Of article Of chapter 3s,
OF the session laws OF 1909 provided
that the taxes come due on the 18th
day OF October, and unless paid before
the first day Of January should become
delinquent on the first day Of February
thereafter. You will observe from that
Law that for some reason tax payers
had 30 days Of grace for some reason
or other before the tax become delin.
quent and subject to the penalty
In the year 1910 the legislature by
section chapter 73 amended section
Of article 9 chapter 3S of the session
laws Of 1911, and provided that half
Of the taxes should become due on the
first day Of December. and unless said
half Of the taxes so levied should be
paid on or before the first day of jan
uary. the entire tax for each year
should become delinquent on the first
day Of January; If the first half OF
the tax levy shall have been paid on
or before the lst day of January, the
second half becomes delinquent on the
10th day Of June thereafter In other
words the first half of the taxes were
due in December of each year, and if
half were not paid o nor before the
1st day Of January, the entire tax be-
came due and delinquent on the 1st
day Of January, and begun drawing a
penalty. However If the tax payer
paid the first half of his taxes on or
before the lst day Of January he was
given until the 18th day Of June to pay
the other half.
The legislature OF 1911 in chapter
t20 Of the session laws of 1911 amend
ed the above and foregoing law, and
BY so doing they certainly intended to
change the meaning and construction
thereof or else they would not have
gone to the trouble Of amending it.
The construction that the attorney
general placed upon chapter 120 of the
session laws of 1911 does not material
ly change the law of 1910, because it
gives the tax payer until January 1st
TO pay the first half of his tax the
same as it did under the law of 1910.
In my judgment the proper con
struction Of chapter 100 of the ses-
sion laws Of 1911 is as follows If
a tax payer desire to have the bene-
fit Of the law and have until June 18th
to pay the last half Of his taxes, he
must pay the first half Of his taxes on
or before the 1st day OF December If
he does not pay the first half of his
taxes on or before the lst Of Deeem-
Der. he has until the 1st Of January to
pay his entire taxes. and no penalty
attaches until January lst II he does
not pay anw Of his taxes before Jan.
uary lst the whole of it becomes de-
linquent and the penalty attaches to
the whole of It. There is no penalty
% airy Of it until January ist
Respectfully yours.
c. CALDWELL.