| Show THE SCHOOL TAX DECISION in conformity with and corr tion of the opinion rendered on saturday last laet and in response to the request from roua ll 11 ibe he board of county commission ore en of ball bait lake county the county attorney office handed banded down we toe jol fol owing opinion monday in reply to your request of orthia this date for an opinion as ai to what proper ano and legal steps should be taken to solve the difficulty now dow found to exist growing out of the fact that since the assess men ment rolla trolle have been completed and the ibe advertisement of property in bait lake city for delinquent taxes tuxes bag bae been made the supreme court of the state of utah lu iu the came of lydia Y merrill VB john D spencer county colle collector agurs have decided that no property properly in salt lake city can be hold held legally chargeable for any taxes levied ul ui on go the abe game tor for the benefit of schools in salt bait lake county outside of said salt bait lake city in other words that said property Is not and cannot behold beheld chargeable with any taxation for county school Beg awe a we beg to advise you that we have hav made a careful ln in of the status of the law on jaad question que atlon and we are of the opinion first brat that the decision deol aion of our state supreme court on this question que atlon it impossible ble lor for the county colle cor ol of salt lake county to undertake here after to lo enforce the of any of said bald county school tax second that sections and of the revenue I 1 lav W of 1896 whereby our last state Z ogi slature undertook to provide a remedy to cover cases of this character by providing that in ID oases cases where property had bad been advertised for sale bale for eno nonpayment non payment of dolit quent taxes where the assessment was wai valid in part end vold tor for excess te sale safe must not for that cause be deemed invalid etc unless the owner of the property or hla his agents agent not leas than six elx days before be fore the time for which the property la Is advertised verti sed to be molds sold delivers deliver to the treasurer a protest in writing signed by the owner or agent specifying the portion of the tax which he claims to le be invalid and the ground upon which such claim la Is based is al a I 1 as ae it 11 infringes upon section 7 article 1 of the he constitution of the state of utah which provides no person shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law J 9 we find on thle this question que atlon that the de aided weight of authority is in favor of our position and that in a larve lare majority of states where the question has been raised such statutes have been held bold unconstitutional and that any tax sales made fur for ana an amount io in ex coes of the legal tax levied and assessed against the he property sold bold have been hold beld vold void as contravening similar arti oles oleo in the various state constitutions we therefore advise you that in our opinion first no sale emu eau be made or any city property properly in salt bait lake city under he present advertisement for the reason that such advertisement includes in the amount stated therein in all cases au an item of taxation declared by our supreme court and now known to be an illegal tax second that under said advertisement said property so advertised could not in our opinion be sold for the balance of we the taxes legally due aorl for the reason that the advertisement calls for the sale aale of said property for a certain amounts amount and this his would rot not so as we believe include a lesser amount or in make ake the sale for such lesser amount tre free e from legal objection in searching for a remedy for this situation we find that abat sections aud and of the act of 1896 pro ahou omissions errors or defects have occurred in any original or duplicate assessment book and such omission error or detect defect has bas been carried into inte a delinquent list or any publication said assessment book may be corrected with the ca consent 0 of the county attorney and the delinquent list may be republished as am amended or notice of the be correction may be given in a supplemental publication we therefore advise you as the best solution of this difficulty that you direct the county collector of salt bait lake county count to so amend the assee books as to omit all amounts charged against any of said property tor taxes levied for county school purposes and that he amend his bis delinquent list in conformity therewith and that he be immediately roa avertine all property contained in said delinquent list as so amended in accordance with the same as amended and sell the same after due advertisement for the legal taxes due with costs after e elloa im said bald item of county school taxes declared to be illegal as aa above set et forth very respectfully yours youra C 0 county At attorney by P F T WAITE assistant county attorney |
