Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1972 )

May 22, 1972
Honorable Franklin L. Smith Opinion No. M- 1127
County Attorney
Nueces Countv Courthouse Re: Whether $1 .OO snecial
.
Corpus Christi, Texas 78401 fee required by-Art.
7100, Sec. 4, V.C.S., is
applicable to certain
receipts and certificates
-4 processed by County Tax
Assessor-Collectors for
Dear Mr. Smith: special taxing districts.
You have requested an Opinion of this Office on the above
captioned matter. Article 7100 Vernon’s Civil Statutes, was
amended by the 62nd Legislature1 so as to create a Legislative
Property Tax Committee. In addition to defining and prescrib-
ing the duties of said Committee, Section 4 of Article 7100
provides for the collection of an additional $1.00 fee to be
collected upon issuance of certain receipts and certificates
by County Tax Assessor-Collectors, the fees to be used by the
Committee In performing Its functions.. Section 4 reads as
follows:
In addition to the fees authorized by
“Sec. 4.
Article Revised Civil
7331, Statutes of Texas, 1925,
as amended, ,each County Tax,Assessor-Collector shall
collect and remit to the Comptroller, as directed, a
special fee of One Dollar ($1) for each delinquent
tax receipt, ‘redemption certificate, judgment receipt,
or any of them, processed by the County Tax Office,
and also for each receipt issued for taxes paid under
provisions of Articles 7207, 7208, 7209 and 7346
through 7349, Inclusive, of the Revised Civil Statutes
of Texas, 1925, or any of them, the proceeds of this
1 Acts 62nd Leg., R.S., 1971, ch. 221, p. 1063.
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Horiorable Franklin L. Smith, page 2 (M-li27)
additional fee to be deposited In the State
Treasury as a,special fund for the use of the
Property Tax Committee herein created.
The payment of this additional fee shall be
a condition precedent to the valid issuance of
each such receipt or certificate, and the col-
lection and handling of this special fee shall
be as directed by the comptroller, with remit-
tances to be made monthly or more frequently, as
directed. All moneys deposited In this special
fund shall be and the same are hereby appropriated
to the use of the Property Tax Committee in carry-
ing out the tasks assigned under this Act, the
funds thus appropriated to be disbursed upon writ-
ten orders of the Committee, with an annual account-
ing by the Committee to be filed with the State
Auditor. This appropriation is made for a two-year
period beginning June 1, 1971, and shall be renewed
automatically for an additional two-year period
beginning June 1, 1973, unless the 63rd Legislature
shall direct otherwise.".
We quote the following excerpt from your letter requesting
an Cppinlonof this Office on this matter:
"The Tax Assessor-Collector of Nueces County
collects taxes for several Independent taxing
agencies located within said County, i.e.; London
Independent School District, Flour Bluff Independent
School Distnict, Por~tAransas Independent School
District, the City of Port Aransas, and Nueces
County Water Control and Improvement District #4.
The Assessment and Rolls of these agencies are
.\ made by their respective Assessor-Collectors and
only the collection is handled through the Nueces
County Tax Office. In the past, no duplicates of
receipts have been furnished to the State of Texas,
nor have these accounts been audited by the Comp-
troller of Public Accounts. The receipt forms are
furnished by the various taxing authorities and
have no place to add any fees due the State of Texas.
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Honorable Franklin L. Smith, page 3 (M-1127)
Examples of the forms used for the special taxing
agencies are enclosed as Exhibit 'A'.
Subsequent to the passage of the above
referred to statute, the Comptroller of Public
Accounts sent a letter dated June 29, 1971, to
all County Tax Assessor-Collectors, a copy of
which is enclosed as Exhibit 'B*. Said letter
details the manner in which the Tax Assessor-
Collector's forms are to be altered to include
the State Cost. All of the forms enumerated
are forms furnished by the Comptroller to then
Tax Assessor-Collectors. There is no instruc-
tion in said letter concerning the forms used
to receipt for the special taxing agencies.
Subsequent to the letter of June 29, 1971,
the Tax Assessor-Collector of Nueces County
attended a meeting of Assessor-Collectors at
which he was told that the One Dollar ($1) Cost
should be applied only where a collection had
been made for the State of Texas, and such was
inapplicable to the special taxing agencies.
At this time, the Tax Assessor-Collector of
this City has been told by,the Comptroller of
Public Accounts that the~One Dollar ($1) State
Cost should be collected. A copy of their letter
of March 7, 1972, Is enclosed herewith as Exhibit
ICI."
This Office, in Opinion No. 'M-948 (1971), held that the
$1.00 special fee Imposed by Section 4 was applicable to 1971
single-payment tax receipts Issued for the period beginning
February 1, 1972, and ending June 30, 1972. In the course of
this Opinion, the following statement appears:
"Where there Is nothing to Indicate that the
legislature did not Intend exactly what it said, its
language is to be literally construed. Trimer v.
Carlton, 264 S.W. 253, (Tex.Civ.App. 1924) aff. 116
Tm.2, 296 S.W. 1070; Lincoln Nat'1 Life Ins. Co.
v. Freudenstein, 87 S.W.2d 810 (Tex.Civ.App. 1935 no
writ); Brazes River Authority v. City of Graham, 163
Tex. 169, 354 S.W.W 99 (1962).” (at p. 2, 4640)
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Honorable Franklin L. Smith, page 4 (M-1127j
We adhere to the applicability of this rule of literal -
construction. That portion of Section 4 which requires the
zollectlon of the $l..OOadditional fee "for each delinquent
:ax receipt, redemption certificate, judgment receipt, or any
If them, processed by the County Tax Office..." clearly re-
luires ;uch collection for all such receipts and certificates
IS are processed by the County Tax Office". The last para-
graph of Section 4, above quoted, further states that the pay- ,,
lent of the additional fee is a condition precedent to the
ralld Issuance of such receipts or certificates.
Past differences In treatment of receipts or certificates
ssued for special taxing districts and other receipts or cer-
:lficates processed by the County Tax Office are immaterial.
.ke Legislature was undoubtedly aware.of the fact that in many
.nstances County Tax Assessor-Collectors act in behalf of lnde-
jendent taxing districts In collecting taxes even in those in-
:tances in which such districts employ their own Assessor-Collec-
:ors. Furthermore, we regard the additional provision to the
!ffect that "the collection and handling of this special fee
ihall be as directed by the Comptroller,..." as evidence of
*ecognltionby the Legislature that additional forms or dlrec-
.ions might be necessitated by this new provision, and as author-
zation to the Comptroller to provide such forms or give such
Ither directives concerning said collections as might be neces-
ary. This the Comptroller has done in.his letter of Zune 29,
971, to all County Tax Assessor-Collectors. We hold t.hatthe ',
pecial fees in question should be Included in the "State Cost" '
ternon the forms furnished the Tax Assessor-Collectors by the
omptroller.
SZTMMARY
The $1.00 special fee required by Article 7100,
Section 4, V.C.S., is applicable to the receipts and
certificates enumerated therein which are issued by
County Tax Assessor-Collectors for special taxing
districts and should be included in the "State Cost"
item on the forms furnished by the Comptroller of
Public Accounts.
Yfi
y 3 very,truly,
Honorable Franklin L. Smith, page 5 (M-1127)
Prepared by Marietta McGregor Payne
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION CCMMITTRE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman
W. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
Arthur Sandlln
Jim Swearingen
Bob Davis
Terry Reed Goodman
SAMUEL D. MCDANIEL
Staff Legal Assistant
ALFRED WALKER
Executive Assistant
NOLA WHITE
First Assistant
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