Honorable George H. Sheppard 

Comptrollerof Public Accounts 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-3797 

Re: Liability of agencies and instrumentalities of the Federal 

Government, and counties, cities, 

school districts and other polltical subdivisions of the State 

of Texas, for the excise tax 

levied by Article 6, House Bill 

No. 8, Acts, Regular Session, 

47th Legislature, upon the sale 

or use of motor vehicles In 

Texas. 

Your letter of July, 21, 1941, submits for our opinion 

the following question, which we quote therefrom: 

"'You will please advise this department 

whether the one per cent motor vehicle tax, 

le,vied by Article 6, House Bill 8, Acts of the 

Regular Session of the Forty-seventh Legislature, accrues on motor vehicles owned and oper#sted by agencies of the federal government, 

co'unties, titles, school districts, and other 

political subdivisions." 

Section 1, Article 6, House Bill No. 8, Acts, Regular 

Session, Forty-seventh Legislature, levies an excise tax upon 

every retail sale of a motor vehicle in this State, equal to 

one per cent of the total consideration paid or to be paid to 

the seller by the buyer. Section 2 of said Article levies, in 

the same amount, another species of an excise tax, to-wit, a 

use tax, upon every motor vehicle purchased at retail sale outside of this State and brought into this State for use upon the 

public highways thereof. 

Inasmuch as all owners of motor vehicles purchased in 

Texas, or purchased elsewhere and brought into the State for 

use upon the highways, must, before operating such vehicles 

upon the public hlghwags, roads and streets of the State, apply to the assessor-collector of taxes of the county in which 
Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 2 o-3797 

he resides, for the registration of such vehicles for the 

ensuing or current calendar year or unexpired portion thereof and pay license or registratfon fees therefor, (Article 

6675a-3, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes) the Legislature 

conceived that the effective administration of a sales or 

use tax upon motor vehicles could best be lodged wLth such 

assessor-collector of taxes of the several counties, Hence, 

Section 5 of the Act before us provides the following method 

of col.lectlon: 

"The taxes levied In this Article shall be 

collected by the Assessor and Collector of Taxes 

of the county in which any such motor vehicle is 

first registered or first transferred after such 

a sale; the Tax Collector shall refuse to accept 

for registration or for transfer any motor vehicle 

ur.tll the tax thereon is paid. 

"When a tax becomes due on a motor vehicle 

purchased outside of this State and brought into 

this State for use upon the highways, the person, 

firm, or corporation operating said motor vehicle 

uF!on the public highways of this State shall pay 

thee tax imposed by Section 2 to the Tax Collector 

of the county in which such motor vehicle is to 

be registered. The tax shall be paid at the time 

a&tplicatlon Is made for registration of said motor 

vehicle, and the Tax Collector shall refuse to 

issue the registration license until the tax is 

paid." 

But the Tax Assessor-Collector of the county, under 

contrclling statutes, has nothing whatsoever to do with the 

registration of the motor vehicles involved In your inquiry, 

but rather, the registration of such vehicles Is with the 

State Highway Department exclusively. The portion of Article 

6675a-3, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, pertinent here, 

reads as follows: 

'IOwners of motor vehicles, trailers and 

semi-trailers, which are the property of, and 

used exclusively in the service of the United 

States Government, the State of Texas, or any 

County, City or School District thereof, shall 

apply annually to register all such vehicles, 

but shall not be required to pay the registration fees herein prescribed, provided that affidavit is made at the time of registration by 

a person who has the proper authority that such 

vehicles are the property of and used excluslve- 
- - 

Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 3 0 -3797 

ly In the service of the United States Government, the State of Texas, or County or City or 

School District thereof, as the case may be . .." 

Article 6675a-3aa, Vernon's Annotated Civ11 Statutes, 

provides as follows: 

"Before the delLvery of license plates to 

anyone engaged exclusively in the service of 

and operating vehicles which are the property 

of the United States Government, or the State 

of Texas, or any counties, or cities thereof, 

such application shall have the approval of the 

State Highway Department before said plates are 

issued to any such applicant, and if 1t appears 

that said vehicle was transferred to any such 

agency for the sole purpose of evadFng the payment of registration fees, or that the same was 

not made In good faith, such plates shall not be 

issued. If, after the issuance of such, said 

vehicles cease to be, or are found to not be the 

property of such agencies, then such license fee 

receipt may be revoked, said plates may be recalled, ar‘ taken into possession by the State 

Hl.ghway Dcpaptment. Said Department may provide 

for the issuance of specially designated plates 

to those exempt by law, and may provide rules 

and regulations for the Issuance thereof, and 

for the enforcement hereof, and it shall be unlawful for any person to operate a vehicle if 

the license fee receipt has been revoked, and 

any such person shall be liable for the penalties prescribed for the failure to register a 

motor vehicle, which is being driven upon public 

hi.ghwags. "

It is our understanding that the State Highway Department and the various Tax Assessors-Collectors of the State 

have uniformly and consistently construed the above provisions 

to req,uire all matters affecting the registration of motor 

vehicles owned and operated by agencies of the United States, 

the State of Texas, or any of its political subdivisions, to 

be handled entirely and exclusively by said State Highway Department and to place no authority or duty whatsoever upon 

the various Tax Assessors-Collectors of the State In this connection. 

This existing statutory law and administrative or departmental interpretation thereunder, was, presumptively, and 

in contemplation of law, in the leglslatlve mind and intent 
Honorable George PI. Sheppard, page 4 0 -3797 

when the instant Act was subsequently enacted to levy a sales 

or use tax upon motor vehicles and place the collection of 

such taxes exclusively with the county Tax Assessors-Collectors. 

Therefore, although we find no express exemption of the motor 

vehic!.es described in your letter, from the tax levied by 

this Act, we think the above statutes and considerations 

necessarily imply the exemption of such vehicles from the 

purview and intendment of the Act. No method of collector 

Lng this tax upon the sale or use of such described vehicles 

being devised or arranged by the Legislature, It would be an 

anomaly to hold that nevertheless the Legislature intended 

that such a tax would accrue. 

Trusting the foregoing fully answers your Inquiries, 

we are 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

By s/Pat M. Neff, Jr. 

Pat M. Neff, Jr. 

Assistant 

PMR:LM:wc 

APPROVED AUG 4, 1941 

s/Grover Sellers 

FIRST ASSISTANT 

ATTORNEY GENERAL 

Approved Opinion Committee By s/BWB Chairman