Montana Attorney General Opinion 15-558

Opinion No. 558 Taxation-Delinquent Taxes-Personal Property-County Treasurer. HELD: County treasurers may seize personal property, upon which delin- quent. taxes are due, at any time re- gardless of the fact ,that the propert~' has passed to another owner. June 23, U)34. You state that you have rendered an opinion to the effect that the coun- t~· treasurer can seize personal prop- ert.y, upon "'11ich delinquent taxes nrc due, at any time regnrdless of the fact that the property has passed to another owner and holder. 'Ve agree with the conclusions )'OU have reached. Section 39 of Article V of the Constitution of Montana pro- vides: "No obligation or liahility of any person, association or corporation, held or owned by the state, or any muniCipal corporation therein, shall ever be exchanged, transferred, re- mitted, released or postponed, or in any way diminished by the legislative a~sembly: nor shall such liability or obligation be extinguished, except by the payment thereof into the proper treasury." Chapter 182 of the Laws of 1933, amending Section 2153, R. C. M., 1921, makes taxes levied upon any personal property a lien upon the personal prop- erty assessed as well a>' upon the own- er's real estate. but not on any other personal property of the owner. The Supreme Courts of other states ha"e held that "the only way to dis- charge a lien for taxes is to pay them." Holbrook v. Kunz, 83 N. E. 730 (Ind.) ; State v. Evans, 6 Pac. (2d 161, (Utah). The pl'ovisions of our Constitution dted abo,e and the decisions of other courts necessarily lead to the conclu- sion that liens for taxes on personal property can not be extinguished ex- cept by payment.