Arizona republican., 1916-03-09
OFFICER MUST PAY TAXES IN
 H|S MOTOR JAR
Army Captain Objects to Paying for Anything Out side of License, But Attor- ncy General Is of Differ cnt Opinion

| Captain Charles l. Nelson. T. S A.. now residing on the military rescrva- ! tiou at Fort Huachuca. is in the future going to be forced to confine his auto mobile travels within the confines of 1 the reservation. The captain is the owner of an automobile carrying a state license number 7G5S. F. A. Hughes, 1 county assessor of Cochisa county. at 1 tempted to levy d tax on the machine, and the military man became incensed and said that he would never in q mil ! lion years come across with the money. i Hughes communicated with the tax commission on the subject The com mission turned the matter over to At i torney General Jones, who handed | down an opinion to the effect that the 1 captain could run his machine on the | reservation as much as he liked, but i that the minute he poked its nose over 1 thc line. there would be doinSs in the seizure line
 Following is the opinion given the commission by Alr. Jones:
 "I have before me your letter of yes 1 terday. accompanied bN copy of a letter written by Captain Charles J. Nelson of Fort HUachuca, Jo the tax assessor of Cochise county.
 "I note that the captain states in his letter that he has escaped assess ment during seventeen years of military service, which indicates now fortunate he has been, and how successfully he has evaded his plain obligation The motor vehicle he has mentioned in his | letter is not the property of the United 1 States government, but is the private property of MT Nelson, and the fact that MT. Nelson draws his pay from the tnited States government does not exempt him from the payment of state taxes on his personal property. any
 more than who draw my pay from 1 the state government am exempt from the payment of taxes.
 Tn order that the captain might have the benefit of our splendid road system of Arizona, he obtained on his own ap-
 plicatIon license number 1865 to op- crate his machine on our state high
 ways; So if the captain refuses vol untarily to pay the tax properly levied on his machine, it would be the duty o1 the tax assessor to seize the machine wherever he may find it upon the state highways of CoChise county.
 Whether or not he would have au- 1 thority to seize it upon the Fort Hua . chuca military reservation. it is not necessary for this office to state at this time; also, ! think that question may be entirely avoided. unless the captain
 sees fit to confine his auto trips within the limits of the reservation
 The assessor, according to his letter has had considerable trouble with at tempting to tax certain property be- 1 longing to tine officers at the post Ac-
 cordns to the federal law. he cannot
 serve civil paper on the reservation without the permission of the officer commanding. Captain Nelson proudly called the assessors attention to the fact that he had been an officer of the United States army for seventeen years and during that time had never beer called upon to pay taxes.
 If the machine had been the property
 of the federal government, the question would never have been raised, but in- asmuch as the machine belongs to q private individual in the employ of the government. the Cochise official was of the opinion that it should he taxed.