Judges: MARK WHITE, Attorney General of Texas
Filed Date: 8/30/1979
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Honorable Bill Clayton Speaker of the House House of Representatives Austin, Texas
Re: Obligation of a feedlot owner to list for taxation purposes cattle owned by another.
Dear Speaker Clayton:
You have requested our opinion regarding the obligation of a commercial feedlot owner to list for taxation cattle owned by another. In Attorney General Opinion M-469 (1969), Attorney General Crawford Martin construed article 7152(2), V.T.C.S., to require a feedlot owner to furnish to the tax assessor-collector a list of all cattle not owned by him but in his custody on January 1 of each year. You suggest that the opinion should be clarified so as to limit the application of article 7152(2) to those cattle which the feedlot owner controls as `agent, attorney or fiduciary.'
Article 7152 provides, in pertinent part:
All property shall be listed or rendered in the manner following:
(1) By the owner. Every person of full age and sound mind, being a resident of this State, shall list all of his real estate, moneys, credits, bonds or stock of joint stock or other companies (when the property of such company is not assessed in this State), moneys loaned or invested, annuities, franchises, royalties, and all other property.
(2) As agent. He shall also list all lands or other real estate, moneys and other personal property invested, loaned or otherwise controlled by him as agent or attorney, or on account of any other person, company or corporation, whatsoever, and all moneys deposited subject to his order, check, or drafts and credits due from or owing by any person, body corporate or politic.
The relationship between a commercial feedlot, such as that under consideration here and in Opinion M-469, and those cattle owners whose stock is `finished out' for market at the feedlot, involves a particular kind of bailment known as an `agistment.' Barclay v. Burge,
Article 7152(2) requires a feedlot owner to list two distinct kinds of property not his own: (1) that which is `controlled by him as agent or attorney'; and (2) that which is `controlled by him . . . on account of any other person, company, or corporation, whatsoever. . . .' (emphasis added). Relying on a Supreme Court decision, Attorney General Martin construed `on account of' to mean `on behalf of.' Thus, a bailment, in which the bailee acts for the benefit of the bailor, is clearly embraced within the ambit of article 7152(2).
We believe that Opinion M-469 correctly construes article 7251(2). In the ten years since the issuance of the opinion, the legislature has not amended any portion of the statute. See Tax Code, §
Very truly yours,
Mark White Attorney General of Texas
John W. Fainter, Jr. First Assistant Attorney General
Ted L. Hartley Executive Assistant Attorney General
Prepared by Rick Gilpin Assistant Attorney General