"AN ACT," February 5, 1842

Summary: The first section of the act described in detail the tax rates on a range of items, including theatre, museums, horses, carriages, watches, liquor, taverns, etc. Section 3 required all land to have a minimum value of 50 cents per acre with a one tenth of one percent tax. Other sections repealed the double tax penalty, issued penalties for late payment of taxes, outlined the requirements for assessor jobs, and described other details added to the tax laws.

To amend an Act entitled "An Act to raise a Revenue by Direct

Taxation," approved January sixteenth, one thousand eight hun-

dred and forty.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, the following shall be the rate of taxes on all property, capital, and other objects, hereinafter specified, together with the tax on licenses to pursue any vocation or calling herein mentioned:--

On any theatre or theatrical establishment in this Republic, an annual tax of one hundred dollars.

Every person who shall exhibit, or cause to be exhibited, for emolument or pay, any museum, menagerie, wax-work, feats of activity, slight of hand, or any diversion of this character, under any name whatever, shall first obtain from the clerk of the county court, of each county where exhibited, a license therefor, for which he, she, or they, shall pay the sum of twenty-five dollars.

From the owner or proprietor of every public race-track, there shall be collected an annual tax of fifty dollars.

For every horse kept exclusively for racing, the sum of three dollars.

For every stud horse or jack ass which may stand for the season, the price for which such stud, or jack, may stand by the season.

For all horses or mules, excepting four for each farmer, or for each working or laboring man, who uses his horse in any mechanical art or branch of industry, ten cents per head.

For all neat cattle, (excepting twenty-five,) three cents per head.

For all pleasure carriages, under every name and denomination whatever, one-half of one per cent. ad valorem.

On each and every improved or unimproved lot, in any city or town, an ad valorem tax of one-fourth of one per cent. on the valuation of such lot, and improvements, if any there be.

On all slaves under ten years of age, twenty-five cents each; and on all between the ages of ten and sixty years, the sum of seventy-five cents.

On all gold watches used, or kept for use, the sum of one dollar.

On all silver watches used, or kept for use, the sum of fifty cents.

On all clocks, the works of which are made of metal, kept for use, the sum of seventy-five cents.

On all wooden clocks kept for use, the sum of twenty-five cents.

On money loaned at interest, twenty-five cents on every hundred dollars so loaned.

Each merchant who sells goods, wares, and merchandize, at wholesale, shall pay, for each establishment, an annual license tax of one hundred dollars.

Each merchant who sells or disposes of goods and merchandize at retail, shall pay a license tax of fifty dollars per annum.

All retailers of merchandize who vend wines, or spirituous liquors, cordials, etc., in quantities of a quart and over, shall pay an extra license tax of twenty-five dollars, in same manner as the first license; and, for which, they must take out a separate and distinct license.

All retailers of spirituous liquors, in quantities less than a quart, shall pay a license tax of one hundred dollars per annum.

For each billiard table, there shall be paid a license tax of one hundred dollars per annum.

For each nine or ten-pin alley, or any establishment of that kind, a license tax of fifty dollars per annum.

Every public inn or tavern, where persons are entertained and lodged for hire, within the limits of any city or town, shall pay an annual license tax of twenty-five dollars per annum.

Each public boarding-house shall pay an annual tax of ten dollars.

Each keeper of a cook-shop, restaurant, or eating-house, shall pay license tax of fifteen dollars.

Each and every real estate agent or broker, ship-broker, and merchandize and cotton-broker, shall severally pay a license tax of twenty-five dollars; and each money-broker shall pay a license [tax] of fifty dollars; and each individual or firm who shall exercise more than one of the foregoing trades or professions, shall pay a separate tax for each trade or profession.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the sixteenth section of the act to which this is amendatary be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That the minimum valuation of land shall be fifty cents per acre; and, upon all lands, there shall be levied a tax of one tenth of one per cent. upon the amount of valuation, which shall be ascertained by the [oath] of the person giving in the land; but if the legal claimant of such lands are not citizens of this Republic, there shall be levied a tax of one-fifth of one per cent.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That all auctioneers shall pay a license tax of fifty dollars, and the further sum of five per cent. upon the amount of the commissions, with exceptions, and under the restriction, and shall be subject to the condition and duties, defined in the fifteenth section of the act to which this is a supplement.

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That all laws, and parts of laws, requiring a double tax to be paid, be, and the same are hereby, repealed--so far as relates to all taxes that may accrcue[sic], or become due in future.

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That if any person shall fail or refuse to make a correct return of taxable property which he, she, or they, may own or possess, to the assessor, previous to the first day of September, in each and every year, shall forfeit and pay five per centum, per month, on the amount of taxes so due, or of which he, she, or they, may have failed to render an assessment.

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That when any lands or tenements shall be advertised for sale, by the collector of taxes, for any taxes or other dues accruing to the Republic, and such lands or tenements cannot be sold for the want of bidders, it shall be the duty of the collector to bid off the same for the Republic, at the amount of the tax so due on said lands; and which lands shall be specially reserved to the Government, and not subject to location, or other appropriation, until otherwise directed by law.

Sec. 8. Be it further enacted, That the assessor of taxes shall hereafter be appointed as heretofore, but shall hold his office for three years; and if any vacancy shall happen in such office, from any cause whatever, it shall be the duty of the chief justice and associate justices of the county where such vacancy may occur, to appoint an assessor, who shall hold the office until the expiration of the time for which the person vacating the office was appointed: such assessor, appointed by the chief justice and associate justices, shall enter into the same bonds, and perform the same duties, as is required of all other assessors.

Sec. 9. Be it further enacted, That the assessors may be removed from office on presentment and conviction of high crimes and misdemeanors, or for official malconduct.

Sec. 10. Be it further enacted, That, the assessor shall make his returns to the collector by the first of December, in each year; and that the collector shall make his returns to the Secretary of the Treasury by the first of April, in each and every year.

Sec. 11. Be it further enacted, That all taxes shall operate as a lien on the property upon which the same may be assessed; and shall be preferred to all judgments, executions, securities, or other incumbrances whatever.

Sec. 12. Be it further enacted, That, upon the failure of any person, or persons, to pay their quota of taxes, when it may be due, it shall not be necessary for the sheriff to take out execution against such person, or persons, but the assessor's list, in his possession, shall operate as, and have the force and effect of, an execution; and he shall advertise, for sale, all property, the taxes upon which have not been paid on or before the first of December, by posting up notices, in three public places, in the county where the property is situated--one of which places shall be the county seat--for sixty days previous to the sale; and shall sell the said property on the first Monday of March, and succeeding days, at the court-house door, if there be one; and if not, at the place where the court of said county may be held, for the taxes, costs, and charges; and if any person, or persons, shall offer, at the sale, to pay the dues aforesaid, for less than the whole quantity of the tract of land advertised, then it shall be stricken off to the lowest bidder; and the part, or parcel sold, if less than the entire tract advertised, shall be laid off in a square, beginning at the beginning corner of said tract.

Sec. 13. Be it further enacted, That, upon said sale, said tax collecter shall give a receipt to the purchaser, or purchasers, of said land, entitling them to a deed in fee simple, if the same is not redeemed in one year, by the owner, or owners, or any other

person paying the amount of said sale, and one hundred per centum thereon; and shall, also, return to the Secretary of the Treasury, the land stricken off to the Republic--which, if not redeemed, as before stated, shall be considered as relinquished, and held as heretofore provided; and the tax-collector, or his successor in office, at the expiration of one year, as before provided, upon the production of the receipt given to the purchaser, or purchasers, at said sale, and, in the event said land is not redeemed as aforesaid, shall make, to said persons, a quit claim deed, transferring all the interest that said party had in and to said tract of land to said purchaser; which deed shall be prima facie evidence that all the requisites of the law have been complied with.

Sec. 14. Be it further enacted, That the collector of taxes shall be authorized to make return to the commissioners' court, [of] a list of insolvent taxables of their respective counties, showing the amount due from each, whose duty it shall be to examine the same--and, if found correct, to certify and sign the same; and it shall be the duty of the clerk, to transmit to the Treasury Department, a copy of the same, certified under his hand and seal of office; and to post up, in some conspicuous place in the court-house of his county, the original list; and that no allowance for insolvencies shall be allowed to any collector, except such as shall be allowed by the court as aforesaid.

Approved 5th February, 1842.

Source Copy Consulted: "AN ACT," February 5, 1842, reprinted in H.P.H. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897, 12 vols., (Austin: Gammel Book Co., 1898), 2:778-782. http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas