Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUOTIN
Honorable B. Jay Jackson
County Attorney
Somervsll Cotlnty
Glen Rose, Texas
Dear Sir:
Ne are in receip
1939, in which you submit
department for an opinion
stribution to make of the
into the of the County, ena the County Aveil- w if this is legal.
x-Officio County Su- This was clone from would like to know if this habitant of the State between the age.? of 21 and 60 yeare
shall be set apart annually for the benefit of the public free schools. This money becomes e part of the State Avail- able School Fund. Article 2823, Revised Civil Statutes or 1925.
Article 7046, Revised Civil Statutes of 1925, as follows: provides
Honorable B. Jay Jackson, Page 2 levied and collected from
"There shall be every person between the ages of 21 and 60 years, resident within this stztz on the first day of January of each year an annual poll tax for tie benefit of the free of $1.50, one dollar schools, and fifty cents for general revenue Said tax shall be collected .and ac- purposes. counted for by the tax collector each year and appropriated as herein required. No county shall levy more than twenty-five cent poll tax for county purposes. * * *"
The statutes and Constitution relating to the disposition and division of the poll tax make a well-defined distinction between that part of the tax which shall be.used for free school 'purposes, and the portion to be used for general purposes. In authorizing the levy of the county poll tax of twenty-five cents, no provision is made that such tax should be apportioned or divided between the schools and the county, but on the other hand, the statute provides that such tax shall be for "county purposes". By designat- ing that the county poll tax should be levied for county pur- poses, it was evidently intended that the money thus received should be used for general county purposes, and is properly credited to the general fund of the county. If it had been intended to apportion the twenty-five cent county poll tax between general county purposes and free sohool purposes, the Legislature, would no doubt have specifically so provided.
It is our opinion that the twenty-five cent poll tax authorized to be levied and collected for county purposes should be paid into the general fund of the county, and that no portion of it should belpaid into the county available school fund.
We await your brief on your second question as requested in our letter of October 25, 1939.
Yours very truly ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS BY Cecil C. Cammack Assistant CCC:LW
APPROVED DEC 1, 1939 APPROVED (a) Gerald C. Kann opinion committee AlTORNEYClWERAL OF TZSXAS By BWB
chairmen