Tax Type
Local Taxes
Property Tax
Description
Senior Citizens
Topic
Exemptions
Date Issued
05-06-1994
[Opinion - Virginia Attorney General: 1994 at 117]
REQUEST BY: Mr. Paul S. McCulla County Attorney for Fauquier County P.O. Box 317 Warrenton, Virginia 22186
OPINION BY: James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General
OPINION:
You ask whether the exemption from real estate taxes enacted by Fauquier County under § 58.1-3210 of the Code of Virginia applies to taxes on real property imposed under §§ 15.1-18.2 and 15.1-18.3.
I. Applicable Constitutional and Statutory Provisions
Article X, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia (1971) provides that "[a]ll property, except as hereinafter provided, shall be taxed." Article X, § 6(b) exempts some property from taxation and authorizes the General Assembly to provide for certain other exemptions. Article X, § 6(b) states:
The General Assembly may by general law authorize the governing body of any county, city, town, or regional government to provide for the exemption from local property taxation, or a portion thereof, within such restrictions and upon such conditions as may be prescribed, of real estate and personal property designed for continuous habitation owned by, and occupied as the sole dwelling of, persons not less than sixty-five years of age or persons permanently and totally disabled as established by general law who are deemed by the General Assembly to be bearing an extraordinary tax burden on said property in relation to their income and financial worth.
Section 6(f) of Article X states that "[e]xemptions of property from taxation as established or authorized hereby shall be strictly construed. . . ."
The statutes authorizing the real property tax exemption permitted under Article X § 6(b) are codified in Article 2, Chapter 32 of Title 58.1, §§ 58.1-3210 through 58.1-3218. § 58.1-3210(A) provides, in part:
The governing body of any county, city or town may, by ordinance, provide for the exemption from, deferral of, or a combination program of exemptions from and deferrals of taxation of real estate . . . and upon such conditions and in such amount as the ordinance may prescribe. Such real estate shall be owned by, and be occupied as the sole dwelling of anyone at least sixty-five years of age or if provided in the ordinance, anyone found to be permanently and totally disabled as defined in § 58.1-3217.
The remaining sections of Article 2 establish income and net worth limits and other standards for localities granting such exemptions.
Section 15.1-18.2(A) allows certain consolidated cities to maintain service districts to provide "additional or more complete services of government than are desired in the city as a whole." § 15.1-18.3 extends this power to all counties, cities or towns.
Once a service district is established in a locality under either § 15.1-18.2 or § 15.1-18.3, the local governing body has the powers enumerated in § 15.1-18.2(C). § 15.1-18.2(C)(6) authorizes the governing body
[t]o levy and collect an annual tax upon any property in such service district subject to local taxation to pay, either in whole or in part, the expenses and charges for providing the governmental services authorized by subdivisions C 1 and C 2 and for constructing, maintaining and operating such facilities and equipment as may be necessary and desirable in connection therewith. . . .
II. Locality Not Required to Extend Property Tax Exemption Under § 58.1-3210(A) to Cover Special Service District Taxes Under §§ 15.1-18.2 and 15.1-18.3, but May Elect to Do So
You state that at the time the Fauquier County board of supervisors first adopted an ordinance creating tax exemptions for the dwellings of elderly and disabled persons under § 58.1-3210, the county imposed no taxes on real estate other than its general real estate taxes under Chapter 32 of Title 58.1. The board is now considering establishing a special taxing district under § 15.1-18.3. Your question, therefore, is whether tax exemptions granted under § 58.1-3210 necessarily must extend to special district taxes levied under §§ 15.1-18.2 and 15.1-18.3.
Exemptions under § 58.1-3210 must be strictly construed. See Art. X. § 6(f); see also 1984-1985 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 335, 335. Nothing in § 15.1-18.2(C)(6) indicates any legislative intent that a local governing body is precluded from imposing a special district tax on property that it has exempted from general property taxes by adopting an ordinance under § 58.1-3210(A).
Section 15.1-18.2(C)(6) authorizes the imposition of special district taxes on "any" of the service district property "subject to local taxation." (Emphasis added.) All property is subject to taxation under Article X, § 1, unless exempted by the Constitution or by statutes enacted by the General Assembly pursuant to the Constitution. See 1984-1985 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 328, 329. No constitutional provision or statute excludes all property owned and occupied by qualified elderly or disabled persons from local taxation. While § 58.1-3210(A) permits a locality to exempt it from taxation, in whole or in part, such property generally remains within the constitutional category of property subject to taxation. Accordingly, it is my opinion that property exempt or partially exempt from general real estate taxes by ordinance enacted under § 58.1-3210(A) remains property "subject to" taxation within the language of § 15.1-18.2(C)(6). See 1986-1987 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 298 (property of public service corporation subject to local taxation and, therefore, subject to tax levied under § 15.1-18.2).
In my opinion, therefore, a locality that has chosen to grant an exemption from property taxes to qualified elderly and disabled taxpayers by adopting an ordinance under § 58.1-3210(A) is not required to extend that exemption to cover special service district taxes imposed under §§ 15.1-18.2 and 15.1-18.3.
Indisputably, however, a service district levy under § 15.1-18.2(C)(6) is "an annual tax upon . . . property in such service district." § 58.1-3210(A) authorizes local ordinances granting the dwellings of qualified elderly or disabled persons exemption from "taxation of real estate," without expressly excluding service district taxes from that exemption authority. By authorizing local adoption of such exemptions, "upon such conditions and in such amount as the ordinance may prescribe," the General Assembly has indicated an intention to give localities latitude in determining the scope of the exemptions. § 58.1-3210(A). None of the statutory limitations on such exemption ordinances detailed in §§ 58.1-3211 through 58.1-3218 limits a locality's ability to extend the exemption to service district taxes levied under §§ 15.1-18.2 and 15.1-18.3. It is further my opinion, therefore, that, if Fauquier County decides to impose such service district taxes, it may amend its tax exemption ordinance adopted under § 58.1-3210(A) to extend that exemption to the service district levies.
Attorney General's Opinion