HEA~ORNEY GENERAL
OFTEXAS
Honorable George H. Sheppard
Comptroller of Public Accounts
Austin, Texas
Dear Sir: Opinion No. O-3007
Re: The Issuance of alien poll tax
receipt e
Your letter of January 14, 1941, reads as follows:
“Our auditom, in makfng audits of the
Tax Assessors--collectors’ accotintsfor the year
1939, have found that a Tax Assessor collector
of a certain county, in attempting to comply
wfth the provisions of House Bill 343, Acts of the
Regular Session of the Forty-sixth Legislature,
with reference to Issuing poll tax receipts to
aliens, has been first i.ssul.ng
the regular voting
poll tax receipt form, and upon discovering that
the person to whom the receipt was Issued is an
alien he immediately cancels that receipt and
issues the salien recefpt’. This Tax Assessor-
coilector has followed the practice of issuing
both the voting poll ‘taxreceipt and the alien
tax receipt rega,rdZessof whether or not he has
learned that the taxpayer was an alien before the
receipt was written.
“We find ft very confusing, in auditing
the account, when the ,tworaeceiptsRave been issued.
We are enclosing copies of the t,woreceipts, and
you will note that each receipt refers to the fact
that the Tax Assessor-Collector has received the
usual amount of $1075 for IssuFng the receipt.
“The writer is unable to determine any
necessity for the Tax Assessor-collector to issue
the voting poll tax receipt and immediately cancel
said receipt because the taxps~yeris an alien;
therefore, we shall avk that you advise us whether
OP not in ‘youropinion it fs necessary for the
two receipts to be issu,ed,or whether the Tax
Assessor-collector, after obtaining information
showing that the taxpayer 1s an alien, would be
Honorable George Pi,Sheppard, page 2 O-3007
authorized to issue only the alien tax receipt.
"In all counties that we have audited,
with this one exception, the Tax Assessor-col-
lectors are issuing only the alien tax receipts
if the taxpayer is not a citizen."
The pertinent provisions~of House Bill 343 (Articles
2965, 2970 and 2975, V.A,C,S,) are as follows:
"Each poll tax receipt and its duplicate
shall show * Q ,swhether the taxpayer is a cfti-
zen of the United States Q * +O
"If from the information on the poll tax
receipt above required, it appears that the party
receiving the same is an alien, he shall be given
a receipt from a book specially prepared for alien
taxpayers, .which book is hereinafter provided in
this title, and the Tax Collector and the Commis-
sioners Court or other authorities providing said
poll tax receipt shall have printed on the face of
said receipt the word 'alien', * * *
'* * *and at the same,time said books are
made the Commissioners Coulytshall prepare a
separate book for each precinct as herein pro-
vlded which shall be marked ?Alien Poll Tax Re-
ceipt Book' and if the tax certificate provided
for in Article 2965 of this Chapter discloses
that said applicant is an alien then the Tax
Collector shall issue from the book marked 'Alien
Poll Tax Receipt Book' a receipt to said appli-
cant + * * it shall be the duty of the Commis-
sioners Court to proviae the separate book as
herein set out and have the receipt prepared in
said book in conformity with the above provision.
The obvious purpose of the Legislature in enacting
Hous~eBill 343 is reflected in Section 7 of the Act which reads
In part:
"'Sec.7. The fact that many aliens in
this State present themselves at the polls to
vote, and actually vote in elections; and the
fact th%t the presen? fo:rmof poll tax receipt
is'insufficient to call atten:tfonto the offi-
cials of the elections the fact that said voter
is an alien, and the fact that it is desirable
to so definitely mark said poll tax receipt as
Honorable George H. Sheppard, page 3 O-3007
to distinctly apprise election officials that the
voter is an alien, and the fact that such action
would tend to a purification of the ballot and the
making of elections in this State more expressive
of the will of its citizens, * * *.'
The Act requires the tax collector to Issue an alien
poll tax receipt from the alien poll tax receipt book if the
information which he must secure from the taxpayer discloses
that the taxpayer is an alien. We may not attribute to the Leg-
islature~an intent to require a useless thing; namely';the-
issuance, first, of a regular poll tax'~receiptto an alien,
the cancellation of same',and the issuance, then, of an alien
poll tax receipt. Such a procedure would serve no purpose.
-It Is our opinion that House.Bill 343 contemplates
that the tax collector shall ascertain, aS he must under the-
statutes In the manner required, if the taxpayer is an ellen,
whereupon, if so, he shall Issue to him only one receipt and
this from the alien poll tax receipt book.
Very truly yours
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
By s/Z'ollleC. Steakley
Zollie C. Steakleg
Assistant
zcs :LM:wc
APPROVES JAN 23, 1941
s/Grover Sellers
FIRST ASSISTANT
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Approved Opinion Committee By s/EM3 Chairman
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