FENT v. STATE ex rel. OKLAHOMA TAX COMMISSION

FENT v. STATE ex rel. OKLAHOMA TAX COMMISSION
2008 OK 88
201 P.3d 866
Case Number: 105993
Decided: 09/23/2008

THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

JERRY R. FENT, as a resident taxpayer, citizen and voter of the State of Oklahoma, and all other similar taxpaying persons, Petitioner,
v.
STATE OF OKLAHOMA ex rel., Oklahoma Tax Commission; and THOMAS E. KEMP, JR., JERRY JOHNSON and CONSTANCE IRBY in their official capacity as its Commissioners, Respondents.

APPLICATION TO ASSUME ORIGINAL JURISDICTION AND PETITION FOR DECLARATORY RELIEF AND WRITS OF INJUNCTION AND/OR MANDAMUS

¶0 Petitioner asks this Court to assume original jurisdiction and issue declaratory, mandamus, and/or injunction relief against the Respondents to hold Senate Bill No. 2434 unconstitutional because it waives penalty, interest and other collection fees due on eligible taxes if the taxpayer voluntarily files delinquent tax returns and pays the taxes during the compliance initiative beginning September 15, 2008 and ending on November 14, 2008.

ORIGINAL JURISDICTION ASSUMED; RELIEF DENIED.

Jerry R. Fent, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Pro Se Petitioner.
Douglas B. Allen, General Counsel, Guy L. Hurst, Assistant General Counsel, Sean R. McFarland, Assistant General Counsel, Oklahoma Tax Commission, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Respondents.

PER CURIAM,

¶1 The issue before this Court is the constitutionality of Enrolled Senate Bill 2034,

¶2 The Petitioner challenges the constitutionality of the Bill because it waives the penalty, interest and other collection fees due on unpaid taxes during a two month period beginning September 15, 2008 and ending on November 14, 2008.

Except as to tax and assessment charges against real property remaining delinquent and unpaid for a period of time as long or longer than that provided by law to authorize the taking title to real property by prescription, the Legislature shall have no power to release or extinguish, or to authorize the releasing or extinguishing, in whole or in part, the indebtedness, liabilities, or obligations of any corporation or individual, to this State, or any county or other municipal corporation thereof.

¶3 The Petitioner claims that the penalty, interest and other collection fees fall within the § 53 prohibition of releasing or extinguishing tax indebtedness, liabilities, or obligations. That assertion relies on

¶4 In addition, we find City of McAlester v. Jones,

¶5 In Jones, the Court observed that courts will interfere and declare an act invalid and void only where the act of the Legislature is clearly, palpably, and plainly inconsistent with the terms and provisions of the Constitution. Jones,

¶6 Original jurisdiction is assumed. The Petitioner's request for relief is denied.

ALL JUSTICES CONCUR

FOOTNOTES

1 Oral argument was held September 12, 2008, at which Assistant Attorney General Lynn Rogers announced to the Court that the Attorney General adopted the brief of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and that the Attorney General would not file a separate brief. The Attorney General was invited to appear because the constitutionality of a statute was at issue in this cause.

2 2008 Okla.Sess.Laws, ch. 395, § 1; codified at 68 O.S.Supp.2008, § 216.3.

3 Section 1(A) of the Bill provides:"For the purpose of encouraging the voluntary disclosure and payment of taxes owed to this state, the Oklahoma Tax Commission is hereby authorized and directed to establish a Voluntary Compliance Initiative for eligible taxes, as provided in this section. A taxpayer shall be entitled to a waiver of penalty, interest and other collection fees due on eligible taxes if the taxpayer voluntarily files delinquent tax returns and pays the taxes due during the compliance initiative. The time in which a voluntary payment of tax liability may be made or the taxpayer may enter into a payment program acceptable to the Tax Commission for the payment of the unpaid taxes in full in the manner and time established in a written payment program agreement between the Tax Commission and the taxpayer under the Voluntary Compliance Initiative is limited to the period beginning on September 15, 2008, and ending on November 14, 2008."

4 That subsection provides: "All penalties or interest imposed by this title, or any state tax law, shall be recoverable by the Tax Commission as a part of the tax with respect to which they are imposed, the penalties bearing interest as provided in this section for the tax, and all penalties and interest shall be apportioned as provided for the apportionment of the tax on which such penalties or interest are collected."

OPALA, J., with whom KAUGER and TAYLOR, JJ., join, concurring