HonorableAlwin E. Paps

CountyAttorney Guadalupe County Seguin, Texas

Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-3219 Re: Whether the subjectperson is permanently disabled and exempt from the payment of a poll tax under the stated facts.

We are pleased to complywith your request for the opinion of this Department upon the question ofwhether the persondescribed in your letter is permanently disabled and therefore exempt from the payment of a poll tax under Articles 2959 and 2960,Revised Civil Statutes of Texas.
The subject person in describedby you as follows:

"AWorld War Veteran was adjudged totallyand permanently disabled, aqcount tuberculosis,and has bsen receiving compensation therefor in the full amount formany years. He owns a farm which he does not personallywork butnnintains with tenant and hired help. He is able to walk around, drives a car for short distances,visits neighboring towns and cities, and does nothing strenuous,and must not, according to his attending physicianlsorders. A complicationto his illness is a severe sinus infection, long since chronic.e
Article 2959 rovides that "A poll tax shallbe collected from every person getween the ages of twenty-oneand sixty yearswho resided in this State on the 1st day of January preceding its levy,

....persons.....permanentlydisabled, excepted.f1
Article 2960 provides in part that "Everypersonwho ismore than sixty years old...or is permanentlydisabled...shallbe entitled to vote without being required to pay a poll tax."

It may be stronglyurged that the term "disabled"doesnot mean total and completedisability, implying rather the fact of being crippled, of being deprived of normal and natural capacities. Certainly l'permanent'f is not synonymouswith '%otal" and means, only, that the disability shallbe lasting and fixed.Honorable Alwin E. Pape, page 2 O-3219

The person you have described is undeniably disabled to a certain extent, and permanently 30 upon any reasonablehypothesis. But he is not totally 30.

In such casewe are bound by the authorities in Texas which are summarizedas follows in Hugg v0 Duffield, 251, S,W. 298, 303:
"The court erred in holding that H. C. Smith was a qualified voter and that his ballot shouldbe counted for appellant. He swore that he had hurt his back and used two sticks to supporthimself when he walks. He was partiallv paralvzed. -- The law exempts every person who has lost a hand or foot or is permanently disabled. Article 2942. The facts are that H. C. Smith is 53 years old and was crippled four Years ago bv a fall from a derrick. He was in bed four or five weeks. He uses canes inwalkin

. He has charge of the water pump at Lyford, which is propel ed by a gasoline engine; he supervises the waterworkssystem, attends to meter tests,and sometimes cleansmeters. He goes about in an automobilewhich he drives himself, He starts the car by hand, having no self-starter. The car is one familiarly known as a nFord? He gets 35 cents an hour for his labor on an average of $25 per month. Under the authority of Bigham v. Clubb, 42 Tex. Civ. App. 312, 95 S.W. 675, McCormick v. Jester 53 Tex. Civ. App. 306, 115 S.W. 278, and H,illert

v. Schweppe fTex. Civ.App.) 234 S.W. 132, we hold that H. C. Smithwas not permanentlvdisabled in the
eves of the law. The facts of this caseare quite similar to those in the last case cited, decidedby this court. The vote of Smith should not have been counted for appellant." (Emphasis ours)
The facts in this case demonstrateunquestioned disability to a certain extent,which to such extentwas permanent. Notwithstandingwhich the courtholds that such isnot permanent disability within Articles 2953 and 2960. Therefore it follows that our courts have not adopted theview discussedabove that "disabled" in the statutesbefore us means crippled,or the loss ofrormal and natural faculties to a certain degree.

It istherefore the opinion of thisDepartment that the subject person of your request,who is able to walk, to drive an automobile, and to visit in neighboring towns and cities, isnot permanently disabledwithin the purview of Articles 2959 and 2960 and, notwithstandinghis admitted disability to a great extent, is not exempt from the payment of a poll tax.

Yoursvery truly APPROVEDAUG. 4, 1941 GROVER SELLERS ATTORNEYGENERAL OF TEXAS FIRST ASSISTANT By Zollie C. Steakley ATTORNEY GENERAL Assistant