diff --git a/src/mesa/state_tracker/st_texture.h b/src/mesa/state_tracker/st_texture.h
index 03bf8b8d774..a1cf9ea5ebd 100644
--- a/src/mesa/state_tracker/st_texture.h
+++ b/src/mesa/state_tracker/st_texture.h
@@ -64,24 +64,6 @@ struct st_sampler_view
    bool glsl130_or_later;
    /** Derived from the sampler's sRGBDecode state during validation */
    bool srgb_skip_decode;
-
-   /* This mechanism allows passing sampler view references to the driver
-    * without using atomics to increase the reference count.
-    *
-    * This private refcount can be decremented without atomics but only one
-    * context (st above) can use this counter (so that it's only used by
-    * 1 thread).
-    *
-    * This number is atomically added to view->reference.count at
-    * initialization. If it's never used, the same number is atomically
-    * subtracted from view->reference.count before destruction. If this
-    * number is decremented, we can pass one reference to the driver without
-    * touching reference.count with atomics. At destruction we only subtract
-    * the number of references we have not returned. This can possibly turn
-    * a million atomic increments into 1 add and 1 subtract atomic op over
-    * the whole lifetime of an app.
-    */
-   int private_refcount;
 };