Hon. John R. Shook 

Criminal District Attorney 

of Bexar County 

San Antonio, Texas 

Dear Sir: 

This Opinion 

modif les 

:: c Fan OAttention: 

Assistant 

W. Pat Camp, 

Re: Opinion No. O-1522 

Issuance of Poll Tax Receipts 

and Exemption Certificates in 

cities of over 10,000 population. 

We have given careful consideration to the questions 

propounded to us in your letter of November 4, 1939 and your 

supplemental letter of December 26th, all of which questions 

are set out below: 

“1. Can a duly qualified elector, living in a 

city of ten thousand inhabitants or more, secure a 

poll tax with which he would be entitled to vote 

by filling out an affidavit (a copy of which is hereto attached), swearing to the same before a notary 

public, and mailing the same with the tax required 

by law to the tax collector of his county prior to 

February 1st of the year in which he desires to vote? 

“2. Can a duly qualified elector, under the 

circumstances outlined in question One, receive an 

exemption certificate? 

“3. Can a poll tax be Issued upon the affidavit 

referred to in question #l, when such affidavit is 

delivered in person by the elector to the tax collector, together with the tax required by law, before 

February 1st of the year in which he desires to vote? 

“4. Can the husband or wife obtain a certificate of exemption for the other under the circumstances outlined in question #Q? 

‘$5. Can the T ax Assessor-Collector of Bexar 

County, Texas, establish substations outside of the 

courthouse for the purpose of collectlne: ad valo~rem 

and poll taxes?” - - 

Yom 

ance 

We wish to thank you for the able brief presented in 

letter of November 14th, which,has been of material assistto us. 
Hon. John R. Shock, page 2 

. - 

The form of affidavit which you enclosed in your 

letter of November 4th is of the type contemplated to be used 

by Article 2961, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas, 1925. This 

article reads: 

“If the taxpayer does not reside in a city of 

ten thousand Inhabitants or more, Ns poll tax must 

either be paid by him in person or by some one duly 

authorized by him in writing to pay the same, and to 

furnish the collector the information necessary to 

fill out the blanks in the poll tax receipt. Such 

authority and Information must be signed by the party 

who owes the poll tax, and must be deposited with the 

tax collector and filed and preserved by him.” 

It is to be noted that the above article applies only 

to a taxpayer who “does not reside in a city of ten thousand 

inhabitants or more” and therefore can have no application to 

residents of the city of San Antonio. 

article expressly so states: 

In fact the succeeding 

“Art. 2962. In all cases where the taxpayer resides in a city of ten thousand Inhabitants or more 

the tax must be oaid in uersu by the taxpayer entifled 

to the receipt, except as provided by this article. If 

a person residing in a city of ten thousand inhabitants 

who is subject to pay a poll tax, intends to leave the 

precinct of his residence before the.first day of October with the intention not to return until after the 

first day of the following February and does not return 

before that time, he shall be entitled to vote if posessing all other legal qualifications, by pay&g his 

poll tax or obtaining his certificate of exemption through 

en agent authorized by him in writing, which shall state 

truly his intention to depart from the precinct, the expected period of his absence 

enable the tax collector to $ 

and every fact necessary to 

ill the blanks in his re-8 

ceipt . 

citizen, 

Such authority, in fact, must be sworn to by the 

and certified to by some officer authorized to 

administer oaths . It shall be deposited with the tax 

collector and kept in his office.” (Underscoring ours.> 

Article 2963, as last amended by the Forty-first Legislature in 1929, reads as follows: 

“When in cases permitted by this Title, the tax is 

paid by an agent, the tax receipt shall not be delivered 

to such agent, but shall be sent by mail to the taxpayer 

or kept and delivered to him in person by the Tax Collector. Where a property taxpayer residing either within or 
Hon. John R. Shook, page 3 

without a city of ten thousand inhabitants or 

more, has a poll tax assessed against him or his. 

wife or, both;.he may, at t,he same time -that he 

pays his property tax by bank check or money order, also pay the poll tax of himself and wife, 

or either, and in the same way 

the duty of the Tax Collector 1 

ahd~ its. shall .be 

n su~ch cases, to 

mail such poll tax receipts, together with the 

property tax receipt to such property taxpayer. 

Exemption certificates shall- be mailed in like 

manner, with the property tax receipt upon the 

payment of property taxes. 

“All tax receipts issued for any year after 

January 31st shall~ beg stamped on ~the face.thereof; 

‘Holder not entitled to vote’, Andy the names. of 

the holders of such polltax receipts .shall not 

be Included In the list of qualified voter,s:.W 

It is also to be noted that the above article authorizes the taxpayer when paying his property tax by bank check or 

money order, also to pay his, ~011~ tax “inthe. same way, and it 

shall be the duty of Tax Collectors. in such cases, to mail such 

poll tax receipts”. No authorization is tom ,be found in the Article to permit the taxRayer to mail his application for poll 

tax to the collector. It seems to us that express authority was 

given to the Tax Collector to mail the receipt to the tqayer 

“in such cases” for the logical purpose of giving the check time 

to clear before the receipt is delivered. There being no conflict between Articles 2963 and 2962, they~ must both be given 

effect. It follows, therefore, that in cities of 10xOOO inhabitants or more all poll’ taxes “must be paid in person with only 

two exceptions: 

(1) That “the husband may pay the poll tax of 

his wife” and vice versa, as provided in ‘.Artlcle VI, 

Section 2 of the Constitution of Texas, and 

(2) Where the person intends .to be absent from 

his precinct during the tax paying period, as provided by Article 2962. 

In our Opinion No. o-1461, addressed to the-Honorable 

Tom L. Hartley, under date of November 7,~1939, we expressed the 

view that Article 2963 provides a third exceptions to. the general 

rules for payment of poll taxes laid down in Article 2961, applicable to taxpayers not residing in cities of over 10,000, I.e., 

the taxpayer might pay his poll tax by-mail where the same was 

assessed against him and he paid it together with his property 
Hon. John R. Shook, page 4 

tax. Upon reconsideration we have concluded that it was not 

the purpose of Article 29b3 to create such third exception so 

as to permit thd payment of poll taxes by mail, although accorn anied by payment of property taxes. 

f: 

Our said Opinion No. 

O-l 61 Is hereby amended accordingly. Although our Opinion No. 

o-1461, dealing with Article 2961, has no direct application to 

the questions presented,by you, 

correct our former opinion. 

we take this opportunity to 

The distinction made by the Legislature in the matter 

of paying poll taxes between cities of over 10,000 and other 

communities finds precedent in the Constitution, which in Article VI, Section 4 authorizes the Legislature to "provide by law 

for the registration of all votes in all cities containing a 

population of ten thousand inhabitants or more". .As said by 

Baugh, Judge of the Austin Court of Civil Appeals in Texas Power 

& Light Co. v. Brownwood Public Service Co., 111 S.W. (2d) 1225 

(19381, at p. 1227: 

"And the Constitution in Section 4 of Article 6, 

recognized that in order to preserve the purity of 

elections, safeguards may be required in cities of 

more than 10,000 inhabitants which are not authorized 

in cities of lesser population." 

In Parker v. Busby, 170 S.W. 1042 the Galveston Court 

of Civil Appeals said: 

I1 *** the law does not provide for the payment by 

a taxpayer of his poll taxes through the mails." 

We are aware of the general rule announced by the 

courts of this state in such cases as Wallis v. Williams, 110 S.W. 

785; Warren v. Robinson, 32 S.W. (2d) 875, land Ramsey v. Wilhelm, 

52 S.W. (2d) 757 that the election laws will be liberally construed so as not to disfranchise citizens, otherwise qualified to 

vote, because of harmless irregularities in the manner of obtaining poll tax receipts, etc. 

R.C.S. 

But Articles 2961, 2962 and 2963, 

shall ge 

prescribe the rules whereby the Tax Assessors-Collectors 

guided in issuing poll tax receipts and these officials 

are duty bound to abide thereby. Article 199 of the Penal Code 

subjects a Tax Collector to penalty for failure to do so: 

"Art. 199. - Any tax collector who delivers a poll 

tax receipt or certificate of exemption to any one except the one~entitled thereto and at the time when the 

tax is paid or the certificate of exemption is applied 

for, except as specially permitted by law shall be fined 
Hon. John R. Shook, page 5 

not less than one hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and shall be removed from office.” 

I. In answer to your first question, you are therefore respectfully advised that a duly qualified elector, living 

in a citv of ten thousand inhabitants or more mav onlv secure 

a poll tax receipt in oersop and not by an agent- upon’ af f idavits except that -- 

(1) a husband may pay the 

or a wife for her husband and - 

poll tax for Ns wife 

(2) if the taxpayer intends to be out of the 

precinct of his residence from October 1st to February 1st he may obtain his poll tax receipt or exemption certificate “through an agent authorized by him 

in wrltlr@. 

II. In answer to your second question, you are advised 

that the same requirements apply to exemption certificates as 

apply to poll tax receipts. It was so, held by the Austin Court 

of Civil Appeals in Texas Power and Light Co. v. Brownwood Public Service Co., 111 S.W. (2d) 1225 (writ of error refused) wherein the court said at page 1227: 

“It is clear, we think, that if the Legislature 

has the power to require a poll tax receipt of all the 

citizens of the state as a qualification for voting, 

and for reasons sufficient to itself, sees fit to exempt certain classes from the payment of such tax, it 

has equal power to prescribe, as a qualification for 

voting 

uitous i y exempted from poll tax payments, as It does 

equal or similar requirements for those gratfor those who are required to pay the tax, *** 

“Vernon’s Annotated Civil Statutes, Article 2968, 

expressly requires, in cities of more than 10 000 

habitants those who are exempted from paymen c 

inof a 

poll tax co procure an exemption certificate before 

February 1st of the year in which they offer to vote. 

This statute prescribes these requirements with the 

same particularity and exactness as do the statutes relating to payment of poll taxes. .And Article 3004 R-S., 

relating to voting 

reference to exemp t 

makes the same requirements wi 4 h 

ion certificates, as essential to the 

right to vote, as it does with reference to poll tax 

receipts On 
Hon. John R Shook, page 6 

III. Replying to your third question we will say that 

if a duly qualified elector pays his tax in person before February 1st he is entitled to receive a poll tax receipt upon giving 

the requisite information as to his residence, etc. under oath 

to the collector so that the delivery of his own affidavit at 

such time would i e Immaterial. 

IV. In answer to your fourth question, it Is our oplnion that since Section 2 of Article VI of the Constitution of 

Texas authorizes a husband to pay the poll tax for his wife, and 

since under the doctrine announced by Texas Power & Light Co. v. 

Brownwood Public Service Co., supra 

i 

the same rules apply to exemption certificates as apply to po 1 tax receipts, it would seem 

reasonable to construe Article 2968, R.C.S., which prescribes the 

issuance of exemption certificates so as to permit either a husband or wife to act as agent for the other, without written authorization in obtaining exemption certifi~cates. 

v. In order to answer the question submitted in your 

letter of December 26th, whether the Tax Assessor-Collector of 

Bexar County may establish substations outside of the courthouse 

for the purpose of collecting ad valorem and poll taxes, it will 

be necessary to consider the several applicable statutes. 

Article 2971 expressly directs the collector to establish such a substation in cities of 10,000 or more other than 

the county seat. 

collector, 

Article 7255, as amended in 1939, provides that the tax 

“when so ordered by the Commissioners’ Court? “may 

post up notices - not less than three (3) - at public places in 

each voting or justice precinct in his county, at least twenty 

(20) days previous to the day said taxpayers are required to meet 

him for the purpose of paying their taxes, stating In said notice 

the times and places the same are required to be paid ***I’ This 

statute clearly authorizes the establishment of “substations” upon 

the conditions stated. 

Article 7256, as amended in 1937, directs the Assessor 

and Collector to “keep his office at the county seat of his counZi;;: 

As said by Murray, Judge in Oliver v. Lindsay, 125 S.W. (2d) 

“It will be kept in mind that the collector is 

not required to keep his office in the courthouse of 

the county, but only at the county seat.” 

The Austin Court of Civil Ap eals, by way of dicta in 

1913 in the case of Davis v. Riley, 1 R S.W. 314, declared that 
Hon. John R. Shook, page 7 

“The payment by a citizen of his poll tax at any other place 

than the office of the tax collector does not constitute in law 

a payment of said tax . . .” The statutes have been repeatedly 

amended since the decision of that case, and we believe that 

the dictum above quoted, has In effect been subsequently overruled by Oliver v. Lindsay supra and by the Texas Court of 

Criminal Appeals In Hlbbetts v. SC a t e, I23 S.W. @cl.) 898 wherein the court sustained a conviction for misapplication 01 public 

funds by a deputy tax collector who accepted money in payment of 

taxes in a corridor of the courthouse. The court distinguished 

the case of Davis v. Riley by saying: 

“It is obvious that Grim (the deputy in the Davis 

case) was acting for the taxpayers and not for the 

collector . . .n 

There being no express statutory prohibition against 

the establishment of substat%ons for the collection of taxes, 

we believe that poll taxes paid at such a substation to the collector or a properly authorized deputy would be a valid payment. 

In this connection, it .must be borne In mind, however, that the 

statutes prescribing the form of poll tax receipts and exemption 

certificates require separate books for each precinct. Article 

2970 requires that: 

“Certificates of exemption for u precinct shall 

be numbered consecutively . . .‘l (Underscoring ours.) 

We call attention to these statutes merely to indicate 

that -they may effect to some extent the practical operation of 

substations for payment of poll taxes* 

“Each Commissioners’ Court, before the first day 

of October levery year shall furnish to the County Tax 

Collector blank books for each , which 

shall be marked with the name and number of the precinct for which they are intended. . .w 

ours.) 

(Underscoring 

Similarly, Article 2968 requires that: 

APPROVED DEC.29, 1939 

/s/ Gerald C. Mann 

Yours very truly 

ATTORNEY GENEXUL OF TEXAS 

ATTORREY GERFRAL OF TEKAS By /s/ Walter Il. Koch 

WRK:ob:wb 

Walter R. Koch, Assistant 

This opinion considered and approved in limited conference.