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45 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AIJSTtN 

QmAa.oGIttAtu4 

CzIQ”sx ORsub 

iionorable Shiney Latham 

Seoretary of 3tate 

Austin, Texas 

Dear sir: 

In our opinion No 

said in answer to your last 

seed to you, we 

* advisedly in the 

eel that the nara 

offioer of thla State ohargad 

of its lawr does not .oonfer 

ority upon him with reepeat to 

rranohirre tax reports. Rather, 

legs to make suoh an era&nation 

e raqulremant that the purpone or 

ion be reasonably related to tha enforoemant of the statute or statute6 within hi6 

oharge . A demmatntlon OS auoh relationship is 

we feal., a neoessary prerequlslte to an exsmlnado* 

o? framhlse tax report8 by saoh an ofi’ioial. . . 

we shall, ot oourme, be pleasad at any time to give 

you our oplnlon as to whether my apeolfio offfoer, 
Honorable 3ldneg Latham, Page 2 

or group of offloers, ia with respeot to any 

given law, inoluded wit& this portion of Artiole 7089.* 

These remarks were direoted to that portion o? Artiole 7089, 

V, A. C. S., whloh forbids exsmlnations, dlaolosures, or 

unes of franohlae tax. report8 amept *ior in?ormabioa 0r any 

offloer of this State obarged with the anforoement~ of ita 

laws, lnoludlng the Comptroller of Publlo Aoaouata, State 

Auditor and the State Tas Commissioners.* 

In your letter of May 20, 1943, roqueatlng an 

elaboration of these remarJrs, you statea 

” 

. . . . 

FQaol?ioally, the County Tax Assessor and 

Colleotor of Earria CouDtp, Texas, has requested 

permission to examine the franchise tar reports 

of numerous oorporatlons owning property and 

otherwise doing busiasss in fkwris County, in 

quest or information l&ended to lead to the 

dlaoovefy of addltlonal taxable property oalUee 

for ad valor&n tax parposes that night othenlse 

esoape assessmeat in auoh munty. 

-he oity -age of the olty~ of LangYiew 

Texas, !?as requested aooesa to the franohlse &ax 

report oi one partloular corporation for bhe putpose of attemptIng to diaoorer taxable assets of 

the oorporatlon In question for the purpose of 

aseessiag same for olty taxes. He quotes in part, 

Seotion 45 of ths Charter of the oity of ~ongvlew, 

with referewe to the duties of the sity maclagaX 

as followst 

**to aee that the laws and ordlmnoeo are 

en?oroe&’ 

“In the light of the &bon, faots, and by way 

of elaboration upon your prior oplnlon above referred to, please advise this Department upon the 

following lnquiriest 

. 

“I. Is the kanty Tax Aesoasot and 002~ 

leotor OS Harris County entitled to examine 
47 

Honorable Sidney Lath-, Page 3 

franohlae tax reports in this o??loa for 

the purpose o? disooterlng taxable rnlues 

for ad valorem tax pur osea 

otherwlee esoape t! 

that night 

taxa on? 

*2. In the event your answer to question 

nuplber one in la the affirmative may a 

general ezaaination of the rep0 l-i a of du 

oorpomtlons owning property or otherwise 

doing business in Rarris County, be permitted? 

“3. 18 th6 City Eanager or the olt of 

Longview, Texas, authorbed to e resin. 

the franohlse tax report of a corporation 

tar the purpose of dleoovering taxable 

property for olty tax purposes? 

n ” . . l . 

Under Chapters VII, VIII, IX, X aud X of Title 122 

of the Zevised Civil Statutes, oountp tax assessors and oolleotors are oharged with a host of duties and resgonaibllitiee 

in ouuneotlon with the dlsowerfng and assessing for State ad 

ralorem taxes o? property looated within thelr roepeo)lvo 

oountles. Ylth respeot to suoh duties and responslbllltles 

we feel that these o??iOlals olearly are Wo??loors of this 

itate charged wibh the enforoemnt of its laws.* Rlnoe the 

purpose o? the request of the Oounty Tax Asseseor and Oollecbor of Harris County 1s pertinent to hla duties in oonneetlon 

tith State taxes, we feel that he is privileged to eramlna 

the ?ranohIse tax report8 OS oorporatIons doing budnese or 

ownl.ng property within his oounty. kmseqUemtly, the tirst 

two questions stated In your letter are answered in thr aftlmkatf ve. This oonoluslon 1s in aooord with an opinion of 

a prevloue administration of this Qopartment, uhloh oplnloa 

ma written by Aasletant Attorney Genarsl Maurlao Ohaolc, dated 

Dsoetnbsr 31, 1931, and addressed to Honorable Wore Lynn. 

The faot that the use of suoh reports for the dlsooverlng and 

asaeari of land for Stat. ad valorem tases may also result 

in sush ?i and being diaooremd and l a sesa ed ?Or eoullty, aohool 

or other looal tares In no way alters this oonoluslon. 

Your third quoation kalses a Isore serious proble& 

Cities and towns operating under the general laws are authorized to pass suoh ordlnanoes as may be deemed proper ior the 

levying, laying impoalng, aseesslng and odlleotlng of tares 

(Artiole 10&l,, R.C.S.), while home rule olties are authorlsed 
-- ws 

Eionorable Sidmy Latham, -8 4 

*to provide* for ainllar mattsrs (Subdivisions d and 9 of 

Arti018 1175, R.0.S.). Although in levying suoh taxes munloipal oorporatlons sot not by virtue of an inherent wer 

(Coftee V. Castleberry, 258 3. "i. 889, 272 S. Yi. 767 p" , but 

rather by rirtue of an authority delegated to them by the 

Stat8 (Olllvier v. Clt o? Aoustoa, 54 3. W. 940, oort. 93 

18X. 201, 54 S. ':. 943 7 , the taxem so lerled and ooll8ot8d 

inure only to the beneilt o? the olty or town ln~oloed, and 

the State has nG direct interest therein. %:orcover, the 

muniolpal oifloers oharged with the levying and colleoting 

o? munlolpal taxes, the assessor and oollsotor (where one 

exists, see Artlales 977 and 1175(l) R.C.S.) and the board 

cf equallzatlon or other oomparable body, have no dutl8a in 

uonneotion with any taxes whloh benefit the 3tate or whloh 

are levied by State.law, See Artloles 1044-1060 R.C.S. 

Yhlle irrtfcles 7337 and 7343 R.C.S. permit lnoorporated 

oities and towns to edopt the prooedure sstablished by Chapter X of Title 122 for the oolleotion of delinquent taxes, 

such ottles end -towns prooeed thereunder by nay of adoption 

only amI their proceedfngs 4re dlreoted solely at the ml.- 

leotlon of municipal taxes. Thus the only points o? oontaot 

between the State and taxes lerlsd by muniolpalltiea are 

that the 3tate delegate8 the power whloh makes possible suoh 

taxation and that the State parnits incorporated oitles and 

towns to adopt and utilize ?or their cwn purposes the maohlncry whloh the State has established for the oolleotlon of 

delinquent taxes. I$o muaiolpal taxes are lerled by state 

law; no suits therefor are maintained in the name of the 

State8 no mtmioipal taxes are levied or oolleoted by offioers of the State governaent$ and no munlolpal ottloials aid 

in any way in the levying or oolleotlng a? State taxes. X8 

reel that these oontaota are too slight to enable us to say 

that the tax.%* authorities of a munioipallty are Wo??ioera 

o? this State oharged T;lth the enforoemant of lta laws.* 

This oonoluelon 1s in aooord with an opinion of a previous 

aQllnlstratlon of this department written by Assletanh Attorney Gensral Heel Pouera, dated June 4, 1.932, and addressed 

to ~&a. Jane Y. MoCallun, and la in ooniliot with a ilk* oglnion wrlttrJn by Assistant Attorney General A. R. Stout, dated 

r&y 17, 1934, and addressed to Honorable la:. F. Heathi The 

p8rsuaslr8ness of the disousalon aooorded thls problen fn th8 

former oplnlon 1s heightsnod by the faot that neither MB this 

dlsousslon ohallonged nor wai this opinion 8lth8r ofbed or 

averrulod in the latter opinion. 
Honorable Sfdnoy Latham, Page 5 

Consequently, 4vea if w4 asmum without diaoudon 

#et Sootion 45 OS tho,Charter of thr City of ~ongtiar, quoted 

above, voeto th4 City %nagsr ;vith a direat interoat in thr 

assesazmnt and oolleotlon of the taxea of that City, su4h aasumptfon would avail him naught slnoe no olffoer oonoerned 

solely alth ~~unioipdl taxer falls ivithin the prlvfictges aooorded by Artiole 7089, Your third question 14 therefore armored 

ln t&4 negatlY9. 

Trusting that the f'oreg4lng fully ~w3wer4 your lnqulries, we m-4 

Yours very truly 

ATl’ORXEY GElU!XAL OF TEXAS 

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