You request the opinion of this office upon the following, which is quote? from gour letter of May 27,1948:

“Articles 7041 and 7043, R. C. S. , 1925, create and prescribe the duties of the Auto- m atic Tax Board in calculating the ad valorem tax to he levier! an? collected eaah year for State and free school purposes.

“Article 7043 sets out a specific formula to be followed by the Automatic Tax Board calculating the rates to be levied for the di,fferent funds: ‘In calculatiry said rates the Board shall calculate the same by the fol- lowin,? rules and upon t,!le following basis: *. . ,’

“Section 17 of Article 7 of the Constitu- tion reads, in part, as follows: ‘In lieu of the state ad valorem tax on prooerty of Seven (7d) Cents on the One Rundred ($100.00) Dollars heretofore permitted to be levied by 3, as amended, there in sdd.ition to all other taxes hereby levied, permitted of Texas, a state ad valorem tax on propert~y of two (2d) cents on the One Hundred

the purpose of creating a special fund for the payment of pensions for services

erate army and Navy, frontier s

. Hon. George H. Sheppard, l?age 2 (V-622)

and the militia of the State of Texas, and for the widows of such soldiers serving in said armies, navies, 0rmXlitia; vided that the Legislature may reduce the Es- rate hereinabove levied *‘I

“There is sufficient monies erate Pension Fund in the Treasury to meet all claims that may arise or accrue against said fund .for the ensuin,? bi-ennium and for a period of years thereafter. The question naturally arises, therefore, as to whether or not the Au- tomatic Tax Board has the ‘power to reduce the 2~ levy provided in Section

7 of the Constitution above quoted.

“I shall therefore thank you to advise me, as a member of the Automatic Tax Board, as to whether’ said Board would be authorized to re- duce or eliminate the 2$ levy, above mentioned, for the ensuing year.” 17 of Article VII of the Constitution

provides that in lieu of the seven (7#) cents on the One Hundred (d)lOO.OO) Dollars for the payment of pensions said tax shall be two (26) cents per One Hundred instead~ of seven (76) cents as theretofore, This two (Z$) cents is expressly levied as was the seven (7#) before. It is observed that this provision of the Constitution further “provided that the Legislature may reduce the provides: tax rate hereinabove levied.” This rate, therefore, may not be reduced except by the Legislature, and the Automat- ic Tax Board has no authority to eliminat,e~eor reduce this The fact that there presently exists a surplus rate. the Confederate Pension Fund sufficient to meet all de- mands for the present biennium and several years thereaf- ter imnlaterial. Until the Legislature takes some ef- fective action to reduce or eliminate this rate, it continues an annual tax liability upon all property in this State sub- ject to ad valorem taxes.

Hon. George H. Sheppard, Page,3 (V-622)

The Automatic Tax Board has no authority to reduce'or, eliminate the two (29!) cente levied by Section 17 of Article VII of the CorsIX%utirn for Confederate peasionsr

Yours very truly,, ATTORNEYGENERAL OFTZX$S LPL:erc