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Legal Rulings

LEGAL RULINGS FOR REFERENCE


WAIVING OF INTEREST

A Tax Collector does not have the authority to waive the interest due on a delinquent tax. The Office of the Tax Collector must adhere strictly to procedure set out in the Connecticut General Statutes. Municipalities have no powers of taxation other than those specificially given by the statutes. (New Britain vs. Mariners Savings Bank., 67 Conn., 528,532 and State Ex-rel Feigl vs. Raacke, 32 Conn. Sup. 237,240.)

The power to prescribe or dispense with conditions, means and methods in assessment, levy and collection of taxes lies clearly in the General Assembly (Daly vs. Fisk, 104 Conn. 579,584). Since the General Assembly has not granted Tax Collectors the discretion to waive interest charges, no such authority exits.

FAILURE TO SEND/RECEIVE BILL

It is clear from the Statutes of the State of Connecticut that whether or not a taxpayer receives a bill for his taxes is irrelevant to the issue. As a matter of law, the taxpayer became liable to the Town for the tax installment due and payable on July 1st. That liability is not created by nor dependent upon receipt of a tax bill. Therefore, the failure to receive such bill does not relieve the taxpayer of the requirement to pay the statutorily required interest on his late payment.

A demand (bill) by the Collector is not necessary to make the tax due, it is not a condition precedent to the duty of the taxpayer to pay (Goddard vs. Town of Seymour 1862, 30 Conn. 304). The duty rests with the taxpayer to pay, not with the Collector to demand. As a matter of law, the interest ­ which became due after August 1st - became a part of the tax due. The Collector is required as a matter of law to apply the amount paid first to interest and last to principal; and has no discretion in the matter.

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