"An Act," January 26, 1839

Summary: The Texas Congress further amended provisions to the tax laws. Ordered all heads of families to put together inventories of both their own property and any property they held on behalf of others, swearing an oath to the accuracy of each. Sheriffs would then collect the taxes based on these inventories and punish anyone who refused with a double tax and/or confiscation of the land, which would then be sold at public auction. Section 6 listed in detail the amount of tax owed on different certificates of land based on the acreage. Section 8 stipulated that all other laws contrary to the preceding one were null and void.

Supplementary to an act entitled an act to raise a revenue by direct taxation.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas in Congress assembled, That on the first Monday of October of each and every year, there shall be appointed by the county courts of the several counties of this Republic, in the same manner that assessors are now appointed under the above cited act, returning officers whose duty it shall be to make out and register in duplicate, complete and correct inventories of all the property situate or found within their proper counties, shewing[sic] in distinct and appropriate columns the acres of land, the number of negroes and stock of all kind, and the amount or quantity of miscellaneous articles, including all classes of property subject to taxation, not herein enumerated, belonging to each and every individual in the county; and return the same to the chief justice of the respective counties, on or before the first day of December next following their appointments.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That all heads of families and all other individuals recognized by the laws of this Republic as free, and all agents or representatives of others, shall make out or procure to be made out, an inventory of all taxable property to them belonging or by them held, distinguishing between that which they hold as the agents or representatives of others, which inventory shall be subscribed and sworn to before the returning officer, who is hereby authorized to administer the following oath: I, A. B., do solemnly swear that the inventory here presented, and to which I have subscribed, is a just, true and faithful inventory of all the taxable property belonging to me, or in my possession, within the bounds of this Republic, and I do also swear that the amount herein returned as belonging to me is true and correct, and the amount returned as held by me as the agent or representative of others, is all that I hold in that capacity, so help me God. And on all lands returned as held in the capacity of agent or representative, there shall be levied a double tax.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That on the first of December of each year, the chief justice of the county, in conjunction

with two other individuals, to be named by himself, and duly sworn for the faithful discharge of the duties devolving upon them, shall proceed to examine and value the registers returned by the returning officer, and assess thereupon the tax or taxes to be levied under the law of the Republic, one of which registers of each inventory shall be delivered to the sheriff of the county, and the other to the returning officer, who shall immediately transmit it to the Treasury of the Republic.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That on the failure of any person or persons to pay punctually the taxes due the Government, the sheriff shall forthwith take out an execution (to be issued by any justice of the peace, if the amount of tax due be within his jurisdiction; and if it be not, by the clerk of the district court,) against the property of the delinquent or delinquents, and shall sell for cash to the highest bidder at public auction, after giving public notice for thirty days, so much of such goods or property as will pay the amount of the taxes due, and all costs, and any real estate which shall be sold under a tax execution may be redeemed by the original owner at any time within two years from the day of sale, by paying to the purchaser double the sum for which it was sold under such execution.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That if any person shall fail or refuse to make out and deliver the inventory herein by law required, when called upon by the returning officer, or if there be any goods or property of any description subject to tax, which have not been returned in the register of the returning officer, in both cases the sheriff shall value all such property thus omitted to be returned, and shall assess and collect the taxes thereupon: Provided, That the taxes in such cases assessed by the sheriff shall always be double the amount assessed upon property of the same description which was duly inventoried and returned.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted That from and after the passage of this act, all land certificates shall be taxed as follows: Each certificate for one league and labor of land, five dollars; each certificate for less than one league and labor, and more than one third of a league, four dollars; each certificate for not less than twelve hundred and eighty acres, and not more than one third of a league, three dollars; each certificate for six hundred and forty acres, and less than twelve hundred and eighty, two dollars each; and [and] every cer-

tificate for less than six hundred and forty acres, one dollar. And any person or persons holding such certificates shall furnish a list of the same to the returning officer, in the same manner and under the same rules as are herein defined and prescribed for making out and returning inventories of other species of property; and all lists of inventories of land certificates shall set forth the dates of the certificates, by what board of land commissioners the same were issued, the names of the persons to whom they were granted, and to whom they belong at the time they are returned in the inventory.

SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That it shall be and is hereby made the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to cause to be made out a correct copy of so much of the registers of the returning officers as relates to the return of land certificates, and transmit the same to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, to be recorded in his office.

SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, That all laws and parts of laws contrary to the meaning and provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed.

JOHN M. HANSFORD,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

DAVID G. BURNET,

President of the Senate.

Approved, January 26, 1839.

MIRABEAU B. LAMAR.

Source Copy Consulted: "An Act," January 26, 1839, reprinted in H.P.H. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897, 12 vols., (Austin: Gammel Book Co., 1898), 2:140-142. http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas