Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1957 )

‘I
Hon. P. D. Thornton, Jr. Opinion No. w-298
Coun~ty Attorney
Mt. Pleasant, ,Texas 'Ret Whetherthat portion of
Article 7298 with reference
to .allow$ng four-year
Statute of Limitations ,to be
pleaded against collection
of personal property taxes
Is violative of Article-III,
Dear Mr. Thornton8 Section 55 of the Constitution.
In your letter requesting our opinion you propound
the following question;
"Is that portion of Article 7298 with
reference to prohibiting suits to collect
delinquent taxes on personal property delin-
quent more thankfour years in ~violatlon of
Article III, Section 55, of the Constitution?"
Article 7298, Vernon's Civil Statutes reads as follows:
"No delinquent'taxpayer shall have the right
to plead in any court or In any manner rely upon
any Statute of Limltatlon by way of defense against
the payment of taxes due from him or her to the
State, or any county, city, town, Navigation Dis-
trict, Drainage District, Road District, Levee
Improvement District, Reclamation District, Irriga-
tion District, Water Improvement District, Water
Control and Improvement District, Water Control
and Preservation District, Fresh Water Supply Dis-
trict, School District or other taxing authority;
provided that thle law shall not apply to collection
of delinquent school taxes assessed prior to July 1,
1941; and provided further that no suit shall be
brought for the collection of delinquent personal
property taxes of an taxing authority unless insti-
tuted within four (4T years from the time the same
shall become delinquent."
Article III, Section 55, of the Texas Constitution
provides:
I
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Hon. P. D. Thornton, Jr., page 2 (WW-298)
"The Legislature shall have no power to
release or extinguish, or to authorize the
releasing or extinguishing, In whole or in
part, the indebtedness, liability or obllga-
tion of any corporation or individual, to this
State or to any county or defined subdivision
thereof, or other municipal corporation therein,
except delinquent taxes which have been due for
a period of at least ten years."
The Supreme Court In Sam Bassett Lumber Co. v. City
of Houston, 145 Tex. 492' 198 S.W.2d 879, held that the 1331
amendment-of Article 7296 which allowed ten-year Statute of
Limitation to be pleaded against the collection of school
'taxeswas not violative of Article III, Section 55, of the
Constitution. The Court stated that such limitation Statutes
do not release or extinguish the debt, but merely affect the
remedy when Its enforcement is sought.
You are therefore advised that the provision of
Article 7298, V.C.S. allowing fo,ur-yearStatute of Limitations
to be pleaded against collection of personal property taxes is
not violative of Article III, Section 55, of the Constitution.
SUMMARY
__ provision of Article 7298, V.C.S.
The
allowing four-year Statute of Limitation
to be pleaded ,against collection of,per-
sonal property taxes is not violative of
Article III, Section 55, of the Constitl:.tion.
.WYG:g a
APPROVRD: WILL WILSON
Attorney General of Texas
OPII!IONCOMMITTEE
:Geo P. Blackburn.Chalrman
By W.V.GEPPERT
Marietta McGregor Payne Assistant
J. Mark McLaughlin
Leonard Passmore
C. K. Richards
RRVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNRY GENERAL
BY:
James N. Ludlum