Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1957 )

April 30, 1957
Hon. Frates Seeligson, Chairman
Revenue and Taxation Committee
House of Representatives
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas
Opinion No. WW-103
Re: Constitutionality of H. B. No. 56,
an Act amending Article 7298 of
the Revised Civil Statutes of
Dear Mr. Seeligson: Texas, 1925.
H. B. No. 56 amends Article 7298 of the Revised Civil
Statutes, 1925, as amended so as to provide that no delinquent taxpayer
shall have the right to plead or rely upon any statute of limitation by
way of defense against the payment of taxes due to school districts or
owing on personal property.
When a cause of action has become barred, the cause of
action cannot be revived by subsequent legislation. McCutcheon and
Church v. Smith, 242 S.W. 454 (Sup.0.). However, the Supreme Court
of Texas in Sam Bassett Lumber Co. v. City of Houston, 145 Tex. 492,
198 S.W.2d 819, held that Article 7298, Vernon’s Civil Statutes, which
was enacted a year prior to the amendment of Section 55 of Article III
of the Texas Constitution ( which amendment gave the Legislature the
authority to release or extinguish taxes which had been delinquent for
ten years) did not release or extinguish the taxes but merely affected
the remedy of collection.
Therefore, this bill does not have the effect of reviving a
cause of action that has become barred. The Sam Bassett case further
held that the provisions of Article 7298, V.C.S., constitute general and
not special legislation. We have been unable to find any ground upon
which to hold that H.B. No. 56 is unconstitutional.
Hon. Frates Seellgson, page 2 (WW-103)
SUMMARY
H.B. No. 56, amending Article 7298, V.C.S.,
is constitutional.
Yours very truly,
WILL WILSON
Attorney General
W. V. Geppert
Assistant
WVG: cs
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
H. Grady Chandler, Chairman
J. C. Davis, Jr.
John Ross Lennan
William E. Allen
REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY:
Geo. P. Blackburn