Montana Attorney General Opinion 17-56

Opinion No. 56. Taxation - Personal Property - Re- demption from tax Lien. HELD: I. S. B. 22 covers all taxes on personal property including personal property where the taxes thereon are a lien upon real property. 2. A taxpayer is permitted to pay or redeem personal property by pay- ing each tax lien separately. 3. The state treasurer is permitted to seiZ(' and sell only so much prop-' erty as may be necessary to pay the tax. Mr. ). E. McKenna County Attorney Lewistown, Montana Dear Mr. McKenna: March 11, 1937. You have asked our confirmation of your opinion dated March 5, 1937, to County Treasurer Ferrell, on three questions regarding Senate Bill No. 22. 1. Whether the Act covers all personal property including that where the tax thereupon is also a lien up real estate. We call your attention to our opin- ion to County Attorney Berg, dated March 3, 1937, in which we held that the Act covers all personal property. 2. Whether or not the taxpayer is compelled to pay the entire amount of the delinquent taxes in order to obtain the benefit of this law. Since the tax upon personal prop- erty for each year is a separate lien upon the property, it is my opinion that a taxpayer may redeem such per- sonal property from each tax lien by paying the original tax due thereon for each year. This would appear to be sanctioned by the statute, which reads: " * * * shall be permitted to redeem such personal property from tax lien by paying the original tax due thereon * * * ." There is nothing in the Act indicating that the legislature intended that a taxpayer must payoff all of the tax liens at once. If there is any doubt about it, we believe it should be re- solved in favor of the taxpayer. 3. The question submitted to you is not clearly stated. As we under- stand it, the question is, how much property is the county treasurer per- mitted to seize and sell in order to pay the tax. We believe this is covered by Sec- tion 3, which reads: "Any county or city treasurer, or any other county officer having au- thority to seize and sell personal property for the payment of delin- quent taxes, shall sell only such por- tion of the property seized for sale as will pay the original tax without penalty or interest."