Opinion ID: 894694
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Statutory Development

Text: In many areas, the common-law requirements for voluntary payments and duress have been supplanted by statute. In the years after Nabisco and Austin Nat'l Bank, the Legislature systematically adopted refund mechanisms and protest requirements in various statutes that obviated the need to show business compulsion in many cases. See, e.g., TEX. GOV'T CODE § 403.202; TEX. TAX CODE §§ 31.115, 112.051; see also State Life Ins. Co. v. Daniel, 6 F.Supp. 1015, 1017 (W.D.Tex. 1934) (noting that the Texas Legislature enacted the first protest statute after taking notice of the fact that taxpayers were being required by officers of the state to make payments which they believed to be unlawful, and that the Legislature desired to effect an arrangement by which payments could be made without waiver of the right to seek a refund). For example, the Legislature adopted mechanisms for the refund of a tax or fee imposed by [Title 2 of the Tax Code] or collected by the comptroller under any law, including a local tax collected by the comptroller. TEX. TAX CODE § 112.051. The Legislature adopted a similar refund mechanism for the recovery of allegedly illegal occupation, excise, gross receipts, franchise, license, or privilege tax[es] or fee[s] paid to any department of the state government. TEX. GOV'T CODE § 403.202. The Legislature also enacted a mechanism to protest the payment of ad valorem taxes in order to recover an overpayment. TEX. TAX CODE § 31.115. These statutes apply to most of the taxes and fees expressly authorized by statute. They apply to state and local sales taxes, property taxes, corporate franchise taxes, professional occupation taxes, and much more. See, e.g., TEX. GOV'T CODE § 403.202; TEX. TAX CODE §§ 31.115, 112.051. Fees paid to state universities also fall under the protest statute, as do property taxes paid to community college districts. TEX. GOV'T CODE § 403.202; TEX. TAX CODE § 31.115; see also Rainey v. Malone, 141 S.W.2d 713, 714 (Tex.Civ. App.-Austin 1940, no writ) (holding that, in order to contest the legality of the student union fee at the University of Texas, a student was required to pay it under protest, and bring suit for its recovery). However, none of these statutes applies directly to fees charged by public junior colleges.