Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-11-17
CLANCY DECIDES
TAX QUESTION Of
GREAT INTEREST
Attorney General Makes I'm
portant Ruling Affecting
People ofAIl Classes in New
Mexico.
nrse,.l o,srAre~ 70 .o.,s~. ,oyssAL,


Santa Fe, Nov f6.--One OF the
most important opinions thus far this
year was handed down today by At
torney General Frank w. Clancy, up
ON request Of Assistant District At
torney A. w. Hookenhull OF Clovis,
affecting as IL does the sale of prop
erty for delinquent taxes.
II rules that II is not proper to sell
all OF the property owned by an In
aivldua for the amount of taxes
against It, IL the sale OF a portion
thereof would realize the amount
due. II this position Is sustained by
the courts. It would affect thousands
upon thousands OF dollars worth of
property now held under tax sale
certificate.
IL is also ruled that there Is not
authority at law for the redemption
of only part Of the property sold for
taxes. II is also held that the tax col
leetor can make the personal proper
~ OF a delinquent liable for all taxes
due. but there is no provision that
real estate shall be liable for personal
taxes. unless a personal judgment is
first obtained and execution is levied
upon the real estate. This also an
swers the question whether a taxpay-
er may segregate property on which
he wishes to pay taxes from property
on which he does not pay. Because
of the removal of large amount OF
personal property from eastern New
Mexico by people whb have left their
homesteads after proving up on them,
the question becomes vital one.
The Opinion.
I have your letter of the 18th inst,
in which you ask an opinion from me
relative to the redemption Of tax GER
tificates. You say, it has been the
custom of the treasurer OF your coun-
ty to advertise the sale of property
for delinquent taxes and 10 sell either
TO the county or an individual all the
property on which taxes had not been
paid and IL the property were in sew
eral tracts and worth thousands oil
dollars, 1t has been sold for the.
amount of taxes against IL, that is, all
the property owned by any individual
You say further that in several In
stances, the owner has desired to re-
deem only a part of the property
and the collector has been permitting
this to be done, but as the county has
recently acquired a new treasurer, he
desires to know IL he is compelled to
accept part payment on a tax certifi-
cate and issue a certificate OF re-
demption as to only a part of the
taxes included in the tax certificate,
and especially when it is-held by an
individual purchaser
Cannot Sell Excess.
In the first place, i think | should
call attention to the fact that neither
under the former statute to be found
in chapter % of the laws of 1899, nor
under the present law, which is print
ed as chapter 81 of the laws of 1918,
would II be proper to sell all of the
property owned by any individual for
the amount of taxes against 1t, II the
sale Of a portion thereof would real
ize the amount due. BY reference to
section % of the act of 1899, you VIII
see that the collector Is required TO
offer for sale separately, each parcei
of property included in the list, OF so
much thereof as may be necessary 70
realize the amount due, and further
that If any of the property sold were
In too large "a tract or tracts to De
conveniently sold, he should offer the
smallest tract in acres, for when any
one would bid the amount of the tax
and penalty, beginning at the north
east corner of the whole tract. Sec
tons "a and 35 of the act of 1913 con-
tain similar provisions as to each par
eel being offered separately with
statement that the collector shall sell
no more than will be sufficient to pay
the amount due. Failure to observe