Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

AGO 1975 NO. 12 >

RCW 58.08.040 does not require the payment of a deposit for anticipated property taxes upon the filing, pursuant to regulations adopted under RCW 58.17.060, of a "short plat" subsequent to May 31 in any year and prior to the date of collection of the taxes.

AGO 1996 NO. 12 >

1.  Under current Washington case law, a county auditor or similar recording officer has a ministerial duty to record a document purporting on its face to affect title to real estate located within the jurisdiction, if the document is presented for recording and the appropriate fee is tendered. 2.  “Non-statutory abatements" are not documents purporting to affect title to real property, and county officers have no duty to record such documents. 3.  A county auditor or similar officer lacks authority to decline to record a document presented for recording, and otherwise qualifying to be recorded, based on doubt that the entity purporting to record the document has been lawfully created or constituted. 4.  County auditors and recording officers have no duty to record documents purporting to establish "trusts;" such documents are not among those listed in statute as recordable. 5.  Conveyance of real estate to a "Massachusetts trust" or other "business trust"  does not affect the property tax liability for the real estate. 6.  Conveyance of real estate to a private trust, in which the grantors and their family members or other designees are among the beneficiaries of the trust, does not affect the property tax liability for the real estate. 7.  Where the owners of real estate transfer title to a trust or business organization without any change in the beneficial ownership of the property, the transfer is not a "sale" as defined in RCW 82.45.010 and is exempt from excise tax. 8.  A county auditor or similar officer is prohibited from recording real estate transfer documents until the County Treasurer has affixed a stamp reflecting either that the taxes have been paid or that none are due. 9.  A county treasurer or other officer has no authority to require that documents offered for recording be first submitted to the Prosecuting Attorney, the Department of Revenue, or the Attorney General's Office for review and comment, except that a county officer has a reasonable time to consult with the Prosecuting Attorney for advice concerning his or her duties.

AGO 1982 NO. 13 >

Where the voters of a home rule charter county possesses the general power of initiative, § 19, chapter 49, Laws of 1982, 1st Ex. Sess. requires that the "special initiative procedure" provided for in that section conform to the requirements of the county's initiative procedure.

AGLO 1976 NO. 13 >

Constitutional ability of the legislature to repeal the state cigarette excise tax once the payments of veterans' bonuses under chapter 73.34 RCW have been completed.

AGO 1970 NO. 13 >

Under the provisions of chapter 94, Laws of 1973, counties and cities of this state are authorized to impose a local sales tax upon those sales of liquor (as defined in RCW 66.04.010 (16)) which are also subject to the 4.5% state sales tax imposed by chapter 82.08 RCW, notwithstanding the provisions of RCW 66.08.120.

AGO 1972 NO. 13 >

(1) The owner of a mobile home which was affixed to a parcel of real property on January 1, 1972, and which had previously been placed upon the real property tax rolls of the county in which it was located pursuant to the provisions of RCW 82.50.180 (5) and assessed as such, is not liable for the excise tax on mobile homes imposed by RCW 82.50.020 for the calendar year 1972. (2) The owner of a mobile home which, although affixed to a parcel of real property as of January 1, 1972, had not previously been placed upon the real property tax rolls in accordance with RCW 82.50.180 (5) either because no application for such placement had been made by the owner or because the assessor had not discovered the mobile home and placed it upon the property tax rolls himself, is liable for the excise tax on mobile homes imposed by RCW 82.50.020 for the calendar year 1972.

AGO 1976 NO. 13 >

If a given county, during 1976, elects to relinquish fines and bail forfeitures for game law violations and to receive payments in lieu of property taxes instead, as provided for by RCW 77.12.201, and notice of this election is transmitted to the director of the state game department prior to January 1, 1977, the first calendar year during which the county will relinquish said fines and forfeitures and receive payments in lieu of taxes instead will be 1978.

AGO 1967 NO. 13 >

Where a property owner, who is otherwise qualified for the tax exemption under chapter 168, Laws of 1965, Ex. Sess., has conveyed his residence to a trustee under a revocable trust agreement which entitles the trustor (1) to have the full right to use of the property during his lifetime, and (2) to revoke the trust and retake complete ownership of the property at any time during his lifetime, such property owner can still qualify for the tax exemption.

AGO 2005 NO. 14 >

A public facilities district created under RCW 35.57 may allocate properly collected sales and use tax revenues to one or more regional centers as the public facilities district determines appropriate, to the extent consistent with applicable interlocal agreements.

AGO 1992 NO. 14 >

1.  RCW 84.48.010 authorizes the county board of equalization to equalize the assessment of the property in the county.  The board has the authority to equalize property on the assessment role on its own motion, even if the property has not been revalued in the current year. 2.   If the board of equalization equalizes the value of property on the assessment role, that was not revalued during the current year, the board must measure the value of that property against the fair market value in the assessor's revaluation year in which the property was valued.