OF TEXAS
April 4, 1939
Honorable George H. Sheppard i$nion No: O-545
Comptrollerof Public Accounts : *Trinity-Mix"is cement
Austin, Texas and subject to cement tax.
Dear Sir:
..
:.
~hi~,ia inanswer.to your letter of March 24, 1939, which reads as
follows':
'The question has arisen in this departmentasto the taxa-
bility of *TrinityMix? (a sort oflPrtar preparationput out
by certain cement companies). The attached copy~of.a~letter.~.:
written by the cement.companyto our Tax Supervisor~;'Mr."B.C.;:
Bearden, explains fully the ingredients..of.,this~mortar.
,~i;::y<,Y'
.~.
"1 will thankyou ~toadvise this departmentwhether this pro-
duct is tamable under.the_.s~tute..lenying.a.~tax.on
cement.",
_:.
The attached copy..of~the
letter to Mr. Beardenthat ;you~ refer"to .~.
which-is from the attorheys for the cement company concerned,reads,
in part as:follows:. :-
"The producthereinabove referred to, manufacturedby Trinity
Portland Cement Company, which is under diacussion,atthis
time, is what is commonly termed orknow;&aardinary masonry
mortar .andcontains some ingredientswhich are likewise con-
tained in cement, nevertheless,thefinished.productsare entire-
ly different. Cement, as the.writerunderstands~it,may icon-
tain various forms of stone ~whichare.burnedunder high heat
and treated in'various forms. After beinghurnedby~high heat
and treated, the product comes out inwhat is commonly termed
among cement people as a clinker form, that,is, in round
j pellets. These clinkers are then ground very fine and-sifted
through meshes-or--screensof a very fine sieve, that is, so
fine that the sieve, as I understand it, will hold-water. Af-
ter receiving this treatment, the fine powder.is treated.
During this same treatment,orperhaps there-afterwards,this
pulverized clinker is treated.with.gypaum,.thraughly mixing
the two products and you-then inturn have%hat is'commonly
known and understood among thencement industry as cement; and
generally and fin fact commonly knovn~~as.P~~d..Cement, which
has a well defined and well understood..meaningamong persons
conversantwith the cement industry. This,finished product
Honorable George H. Sheppard,page 2 O-545
which is termed and known as cement is used for many and sundry
purposes, such as makingmortar, plaster, concrete and many
times in its raw state by adding water to it and for numerous
other similar purposes.
"The product here under consideration,which is commonly
known as Trinity Portland Cement Company's finished product
of mortar, is manufactured,as the writer understands it, in
the followingmanner. The clinkers above referred to, without
being ground and without being treated with gypsum, are taken
in their raw state as they come from the furnace, mixed with
lime rock in its raw state, containingapproximately47 or
48 per cent of lime after the same has been burned, treated
and reduced to lime. This lime rock in itsraw state, without
being treated in any particular,~isground and pulverizedwith
.-the clinkers,both productqbeing mixed-and ,placedthrough a
sieve and then you~have the finished~product.:~The,percentage
of lime rock and clinkersused-in this finished product, vary,
depending upon the strength ordurability or mortar desired.'
This finished product Is museda.smortar,~as I..understand.
it,
snd,,
is.nothing;in.facthut a:.preparedmortar;".:
..~
.i_.
.,~.
ihe~statute:in'iqu~atioh..is'.pjlr;?graphi.
(a)':;f:
H&rii;;
B&c.~o;:j~ji,Acts
1931, Forty+secondLegislature,, p.~355;.::ch;'
212,'j'how
codified.as
Section 4la of Article 7047 of VernonVAnnotated‘Revised Civil
Statutes of Texas, which.reads~~asfollows:
*There is hereby imposed