Judges: WRITTEN BY: Robert M. Spire, Attorney General Yvonne E. Gates, Assistant Attorney General
Filed Date: 9/11/1987
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
REQUESTED BY: Margaret L. Higgins, Director Department of Motor Vehicles
1: Are vehicles owned by Natural Resource Districts classified as government owned vehicles and therefore required to display government plates pursuant to Neb.Rev.Stat. §
2: If not government owned vehicles, are Natural Resource Districts entitled to tax exemption in accordance with Neb.Rev.Stat. §
3: Are Natural Resource Districts allowed to waive tax exempt status, make full payment of registration fees and taxes and therefore display regular passenger vehicle plates?
4: What is the current status of credit unions, federal land banks and public power and irrigation districts with regard to payment of registration fees and property and sales taxes?
1, 2, 3: Vehicles owned by Natural Resource Districts are required to display tax exempt but not government license plates. They may not waive the tax exempt status and must pay all required motor vehicle registration fees.
4: Credit unions are not exempt from either taxation or registration fees. Federal land banks are exempt from both. Public power and irrigation districts are exempt from taxation but are liable for registration fees the same as Natural Resource Districts.
DISCUSSION
The request concerning the type of license plate and whether registration fees and taxes should be assessed for vehicles belonging to certain governmental entities involves several interrelated issues. We begin by discussing the Natural Resource Districts (NRD).
In order to answer whether NRD owned motor vehicles are tax exempt government vehicles it must first be determined if NRDs are governmental subdivisions which are immune to taxation under Neb.Rev.Stat. §
Viewing NRDs as government subdivisions based on the Catania criteria is consistent with the position previously taken in Attorney General Opinions dated February 20, 1940, July 26, 1941, January 26, 1942, and December 7, 1979, all of which refer to the districts as governmental subdivisions. Since NRDs are governmental subdivisions their property is exempt from taxation. Tax exempt status cannot be waived because Nebraska Constitution Article
It does not necessarily follow that the district must display government plates. The applicable statute regarding the licensing of government owned vehicles provides as follows:
"The Department of Motor Vehicles may provide a distinctive license plate for all motor vehicles owned or operated by the state, counties, municipalities, or school districts. Such government-owned motor vehicles shall display such distinctive license plates when such plates are issued." Neb.Rev.Stat. §
60-311 (3) (Reissue 1984).
By virtue of their authority to levy taxes NRDs are self funding governmental subdivisions. Any property purchased by NRDs is the sole property of that district and not state owned. Consequently, motor vehicles of the NRDs do not fall within the category of state owned motor vehicles and thus are not required to display government plates in accordance with §
In regard to the motor vehicle registration fees, we find no significant change in the statutes since the February 20, 1940 and July 26, 1941 Attorney General opinions. Neb.Rev.Stat. §§
A similar analysis is necessary to determine whether credit unions, federal land banks, public power and irrigation districts are tax exempt for the purposes of §
Additionally, that opinion cited Neb.Rev.Stat. §
A credit union as defined by Neb.Rev.Stat. §
With respect to public power and irrigation districts the Supreme Court of Nebraska in Platte Valley Public Power Irrigation District v. County of Lincoln,
Yvonne E. Gates Assistant Attorney General