June 30, 1959
Honorable Joe Resweber OpinUan~No.. WW-650
County Attorney
Harris County Re: Authority of county
Houston, Texas tax collector as to
Issuance of poll tax
receipts and exemp-
tion certificates in
affidavit form.
Dear Mr. Resweber:
Your letter requesting an opinion of this office reads
as follows:
"On this date, May 6, 1959; at the request of
Mr. Carl S. Smith, Tax Assessor and Collector of
Harris County, we rendered our Opinion No. R-59-1169
to the following queatlone:
(1) Is It possible for the Tax Assessor and
Collector of Harris County, Texas, to put the poll
tax receipt and the poll tax exemption certificate
In affidavit form?
(2) May the Tax Asseaaor and Collector of
Harris Couhty, Texas, require any other Information
he feels Is necessary to protect himself and his
office and comply with the laws of the State of
Texas?
"Because of the vague provlelons of some sec-
tions of the Texas Election Code, aii well aa some
apparent conflicts in lta provisions and the absence
of Interpretation by the Court8 of many sections of
the Code, we feel that an opinion of the Office of
the Attorney General should be obtained and there-
fore request the opinion of your office on these ques-
tions. We enclose herewith a copy of our Opinion No.
R-59-1169 which contains a discussion of the various
Code provision8 and other matters considered In
--
Hon. Joe Resweber, page 2 (~~-650)
arriving at our conclusioni3‘ior tihatever value It may
be to your office.”
Your Opinion No; R-59-1169 sets out the applicable
statutes and traces their history Insofar as pertinent to the
questions under consideration. These statutes are Sections 43,
46, 48, 49, and 53 of the Texas Election Code. For convenience,
we shall refer to these sections by their unofficial designation
in Vernon’e Texas Election Code, a8 followa: Article 5.11 (Sec-
tion 43), Article 5.14 (Section 46), Article 5.16 (Section 48),
Article 5.17 (Section 49), and Article 5.21 (Section 53). You
Interpret these statutes as fc$lowa:
(1) A person paying his poll tax In peraon Is required’
to make an oral sworn statement to the tax collector or hla deputy
of the Information necessary to fill out the blanks In the receipt
form.
(2) A pereon paying his poll tax through an agent or
through the United States mall 1~ required to furnlah a written,
elgned statement containing the necessary information, but the
information does not,have to be sworn to.
(3) A pereon applying for an exemption certificate is
required to swear to the Informatlon~neceasaPy to fill out, the
certif lcate f aim.
,(4) The tax collector’may require a person applying
for a poll tax receipt or an exemption certificate to make an
affidavit of the necessary lnformatj,on If the tax collector has
reaapn to,belleve that the appllcatit has falsely stated the ln-
formation or If the tax collector does not, personally know the
applicant as being a resident of the precinct which the applicant
~clalms as hle residence.
We agree with the foregoing conclualotie, but we are un-
able to agree with the ultimate conclus$on reached in your opinion
that, the tax collector may alter the statutory form of the receipt
or cetitlflcate 80 88 to incorporate into the receipt or certificate
the affidavit, which he may require under Article 5.21. This con-
clusion Is stated In your opinion as follows:
“There 18 no general authority under the Texas
Election Code of 1951 for the Tax Collector to alter
the statutory form of the ,poll tax receipt or the ex-
emption certificate 80 as,to make It into an affidavit
signed by the taxpayer. The Election Code, as @mended,
apparently contemplates a poll tax receipt e?o?.eaQtedby
the Tax Collector or his deputy certl~