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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 makesuoh 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 OSauoh relationship is we feal., a neoessary prerequlslte to an exsmlnado* o? framhlse tax report8 by saoh an ofi’ioial.

. . weshall, ot oourme, be pleasad at any time to give you our oplnlon as to whether my apeolfio offfoer,Honorable 3ldneg Latham, Page2

or group of offloers, ia with respeot to any given law, inoluded wit& this portion of Artiole 7089.* These remarkswere 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 andthe State Tas Commissioners.*

In your letter of May20, 1943, roqueatlng an elaboration of these remarJrs,you statea

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. . . . FQaol?ioally, the CountyTaxAssessor and Colleotor of Earria CouDtp, Texas, has requested permission to examine the franchise tar reports of numerous oorporatlons owningproperty 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 auohmunty. -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 samefor olty taxes. Hequotes 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, andbyway of elaboration uponyour prior oplnlon above referred to, please advise this Departmentupon the following lnquiriest

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“I. Is the kanty TaxAesoasot and 002~ leotor OSHarris Countyentitled to examine

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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 nuplberone in la the affirmative maya general ezaaination of the rep0l-ia 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 eresin. the franohlse tax report of a corporation tar the purpose of dleoovering taxable property for olty tax purposes?
n ” . . l . UnderChapters VII, VIII, IX, XaudX of Title 122 of the Zevised Civil Statutes, oountp tax assessors andoolleotors are oharged with a host of duties andresgonaibllitiee 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 andresponslbllltles wefeel 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 OountyTaxAsseseor and Oollecbor of Harris County 1s pertinent to hla duties in oonneetlon tith State taxes, wefeel that he is privileged to eramlna the ?ranohIse tax report8 OSoorporatIons doing budnese or ownl.ngproperty within his oounty. kmseqUemtly, the tirst two questions stated In your letter are answered in thr aftlmkatfve. 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 Dsoetnbsr31, 1931, andaddressed to Honorable Wore Lynn. Thefaot that the use of suoh reports for the dlsooverlng and asaeari of land for Stat. ad valorem tases may also result in sush?iandbeing diaooremd and lasesaed ?Or eoullty, aohool or other looal tares In nowayalters this oonoluslon.

Your third quoation kalses a Isore serious proble& Cities andtowns operating under the general laws are authorized to pass suoh ordlnanoes as maybe deemedproper ior the levying, laying impoalng, aseesslng and odlleotlng of tares (Artiole 10&l,, R.C.S.), while homerule olties are authorlsed

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EionorableSidmy Latham, -8 4

*to provide* for ainllar mattsrs (Subdivisions d and9 of Arti018 1175, R.0.S.). Although in levying suoh taxes munloipal oorporatlons sot not by virtue of an inherent wer (Coftee V. Castleberry, 2583. "i. 889, 272 S. Yi. 767 , but p" rather byrirtue of an authority delegated to themby the Stat8 (Olllvier v. Clt o? Aoustoa, 54 3. W. 940, oort. 93 18X. 201, 54 S. ':.9437, the taxemso lerled andooll8ot8d inure only to thebeneilt o? the olty or town ln~oloed, and the State has nGdirect interest therein. %:orcover, the muniolpal oifloers oharged with the levying andcolleoting o? munlolpal taxes, the assessor and oollsotor (where one exists, see Artlales 977 and 1175(l) R.C.S.) andthe board cf equallzatlon or other oomparable body, have nodutl8a 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 7343R.C.S. permit lnoorporated oities andtowns to edopt the prooedure sstablished by Chapter Xof Title 122 for the oolleotion of delinquent taxes, such ottles end-townsprooeed thereunderby nay ofadoption only amI theirproceedfngs 4re dlreoted solely at the ml.- leotlonof municipal taxes. Thus the only points o? oontaot between the State andtaxes lerlsd by muniolpalltiea are that the 3tate delegate8 the powerwhloh makespossible suoh taxation andthat theState 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$omuaiolpal taxes are lerled by state law; no suits therefor are maintained in the nameof the State8 no mtmioipal taxesare levied or oolleotedby offioers of the State governaent$ andno munlolpal ottloials aid in anywayin 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, andaddressed 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 ifw4 asmum without diaoudon #et Sootion 45 OS tho,Charterof thrCity of ~ongtiar, quoted above, voeto th4 City %nagsr ;vith a direat interoat in thr assesazmnt and oolleotlon of the taxeaof that City, su4h aasumptfonwould avail him naught slnoe no olffoer oonoerned solelyalth ~~unioipdltaxer falls ivithinthe prlvfictgesaooorded 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’ORXEYGElU!XAL OF TEXAS

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