Case Information
*1 i OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
ftonorebie George K. ijhegperb
Coztgroller of Pub110 Accounts
‘Austin, Texas
Dear Sir:
us what is ze
Artiolo 7347,
Texas’. POUT
41 provfaes for a tax on d by tmtbook plubbllahera. , tho tartbook law tie3 *2 Honorable George H, Sheppard, Page 2
of-all textbooks sold or used in the schools whe- ther ornot adopted by the Textbook Commission. "The above opiniona have oaused soversl ques- tiohs to be raised by the textbook pabllehers as to their tax lloblllty on the receipts received from the aale of books thst are not adoptsd by the Tsxt- book Com&sslon."
The orfglnal law plaolng a -tax on the publication got textbooks was uessed 5n lQO7 (iI. 2. No. 4, Sea. 13, 30th Lw,. s 1st C. S., 6~. 479, Ch. 28), aad amended in 1823 (S. 33. but, as Indicated by NO. 291, 38th Leg., pi 352, Ch.,l.07); you, that law terminated, that is, beatme Inoperative, by its own terms, on September 1, lQ2Q. However, it is still printed In Vernon's hsvised Civil Statutes as Artiole 7069;
In 1930 tAIs law WRS re-enaotsd (II. B. Eo. 41, Blst Leg., 6th C, S., p. 178, Ch.'37), an3 is now in effect txd oodirfeu as Section 41 of Article 7047, Pernon's ¬ated E!evlsed ClviL Statutes. It reads as follows:
"Textbook publishers. - Each indivLdus1, com- pany, corporation or asoociatlon, whether incorpor- ated under the laws of this State, or of any other Stat8 or Nation, enSaCed Ln pehliahing, prlntlni; SIKH selling such text-books as ere used, or ~11-1 bs used, in the schools of this State, or'ovming, controlling or mansgin& any such business within the State or out of it, and h3viq State g.zencios within this State r0r the purpose or sell& any such books, t-3 b8 used 'In any of the Schools of this Sttite;shall rake quar- terly, on the first days of yaouery, April, July and Ootober of each gear, a report to the Comptroller, under oath of the individual or of the president or treasurer or superintendent of such oompnny, corpora- tion or association, or or the person ov.nl.nC, oontrol- 1lnC or naqaglng suoh business, ahowi.nS the Cross amouht received from such business done ?iithin this State rmqeny and all sourses durlnq the qus.rter next prcosed,ing. 35ld indJ,vidu.nSs, co:genl.es, corpor- at5.ons and asoooietions, ot the tine 0r naklcg said xe- port, shall pay to the State Treesurer an occupation tax forthe.n,Llarter beginnlnC on said date oqu.al to *3 . .
One p8rC8IIt Of SCiia grO3S rC338iptS as 8hWIn by Said report. The provisions of this Article Shell not apply to 0ny corporation organized by the etudents .end. feCulty Of anyState Sup~Ort8~ iu3titutiOn Of learning and which has no capital Stock and psys no dividends and is or@.U.zed for the purpose of supply- ing books and other school Supglics to the Stuaent of such Institution end v:hoca assets on the ait3s0iu- tion of the oor?oration pass to the Eovernlng board of the institution es e trust fund to be uaetl for the benefit Of th8 inStitUtiOn.~
The Legislature has not aefined the word “text-books” In this ststute, and therafore ~18 believe it was wended in the sense it is ordlnnrlly used. In the cc?so of T. 6i P. Ry. co. Cor~iissioli of Terns, 0. Railroad 105 To% 3S6, 150 5. N. 878, the Suarene Court of Texas said1 H?:oras in aom?on use when used by the U&la- fure In a Statute are t0 be KUI&XMOO~. aS inteuaea to express the sense in whioh they are ordinarily usod.Lcwis, Conat. Bitat. vol. 2, pa 654, B %a.*
Tfi8 word "ZcxtboOk" has a welldefined meaning. Tt la dOmei in Xabsterqc flew International Dioticnary, 2110 Ea. Unabridged, a5 followsr
wOriginally, a book on which e tecnher lectures Jr aomc!ts~ hence, any necual of iLqtr@ion; E?
book containing a presentation of the prirci?les of a subjeot, Inteneeci to be stu.afed. by the pupil end used 6s a basls of instruction by the tsao38r.H The only appellate aourt oaso we have fowd thnt dasls wfth the meanti of the nerd ‘%x&books” is the.ca~e of So!:ool Distriot of Femaale v. School Eistriot of Conezduch Township, 526 ?a.
142, 191 A. 611, dich goes fnrther then v:e are @oiag in thiS opinion @.d holds that *taxtbdcs 'I lccluciu all "booka which must be 5tUiii8d to complete text-book work.”
An ereminatlon of the Proo Textbook Lew (Chapter 16, Title 49, P. A. C. S.) shows that t!lera can be textbosko us& l.;l;e public so.hoolo in eciCition to those n?agSted by the hJ . There v:as-formerly a Textbook Coz~ds~lion, but its duties
have been taken over by the State Board of Edtioatlon (Art. 2675b end Art. 2839, V. A. C. S.) . UnCer Artiole 2843 It has Weuthorlty to seleot end adopt a uniform system of text- books to be used in the publio rs8e schools of ?exasW; but hrtiCl85 2060 end .2282 show that ?textbooksW other than those aaOpt8a by the stat8 Board of Education may be USSd. Article 2860 reads in part aa ~fol.10~1
“. . . provided further that nothing in this Aat shall be oonstruea to prevent or ~rohlbit the trustees of sohool alstricts from purchasing text- books wfth the local maintennnce funds and furninh- ins free textbooks to the students In the event that no oontraots are m&e by the State.W in pert as follows: Artiole 2862 reads
*Khec the sUDeleiW?tery books Other then thOs8 selected by the Ycxtbook CO:~ZX~~S~.O~I are used, they ehall be furnished at a price fired hy the trustees of the school in vlhioh they are used and nn?rovea by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, . . .I$ %e believe thet the Legislature inter;dee for all bdokzi use& es wtextbookss” In the pW.ic echoolo to be included in the statute in .question, end in view of the fact books other than those adopted by the State Board of X'duoation n3yh.F be used in some lpstanaes @e do not believe th.c!t it was I.ntended by the Legislature that the term VrtextbooICSW~es used 1.1~ the statute 1ncLudes only suoh books as are adopted by the SoarC.
We have studied the opinions by Sormer P.ssistant it- torney General Ii. Grady Chandler and former Assistant. Attorney General Hubert Caulk, to which you refer. Those opinions do not mke the extruse holdings that you suggest. Xr. Chendler'a opinion holds that "books thet are a part of the rJscellaneous works of the aohool libraryYg such as Vhe Story of Daniel Boone", *The Story of C:ndsrelj.a" anciVhe Story of t>e Stars- are not textbooks witbln the meaning of the etstute; end I&. Faulk's opinion holds that nus.io books from which music Fe taught in the publio sch~ools but which ere not o;lopted by tho Borrd ere textbooks under the z%z!inS of the statute.
Our <onofuslon is that as the term Vtoxtbooks*q is in the statute t&x38 books th>t are not aeflned It include3 ooneidered textbooke~ in the sense In which the ororil is osdin- *5 .
arllp Used, and it 16 not llnited to thooe books that are adopted by the State Board of Education. mat would include any mmuel of instruotion or book oontaining a presentation or the prir,olples or a suhjeot intended to be studied by the pupil and-used as a- basis oi inetructlon by the teaoher; but it would not inolude nlsoellaneous works in the library that are. not ueed aa a basis of fnstruotfon.
Yours very truly ATTORXEY ~-3, OF !KXM Ceofl C. Totsoh bsslstant