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TAXATION AND REVENUE SYSTEMS—TEXAS. 
dered for taxation (the county commissioners’ court to con 
stitute a board of equalization) ; and may also provide for 
the classification of all lands and titles. 
Sec. 19. Farm products in the hands of the producer and 
family supplies for home and farm use are exempt from all 
taxation until otherwise directed by a two-thirds vote of all 
the members elect to both houses of the legislature. 
ARTICLE III. 
Sec. 48. The legislature shall not have the right to levy 
taxes or impose burdens upon the people, except to raise 
revenue sufficient for the economical administration of the 
government, in which may be included the following purposes: 
The payment of all interest upon the bonded debt of the state. 
The erection and repairs of public buildings. 
The benefit of the sinking fund, which shall not be more 
than 2 per cent of the public debt; and for the payment of 
the present floating debt of the state, including matured bonds, 
for the payment of which the sinking fund is inadequate. 
The support of public schools, in which shall be included col 
leges and universities established by the state; and the mainte 
nance and support of the agricultural and mechanical colleges 
of Texas. 
The payment of the cost of assessing and collecting the 
revenue, and the payment of all officers, agents, and employees 
of the state government, and all incidental expenses connected 
therewith with reference to their value in the several counties. 
The support of the blind asylum, the deaf and dumb asylum, 
and the insane asylum, the state cemetery, and the public 
pounds of the state. 
The enforcement of quarantine regulations on the coast of 
Texas. 
The protection of the frontier. 
article xi. 
Sec. 4. Cities and towns having a population of 10,000 inhab 
itants or less * * * may levy, assess, and collect an annual 
tax to defray the current expenses of their local government, 
but such tax shall never exceed for any one year one-fourth 
of 1 per cent, and shall be collectible in current money. And 
all license and occupation taxes levied, and all fines, for 
feitures, penalties, and other dues accruing to cities and towns, 
shall be collectible only in current money. 
Sec. 5. Cities having more than 10.000 inhabitants may 
* * * levy, assess, and collect such taxes as may be author 
ized by law, but no tax for any purpose shall ever be lawful 
for any one year which shall exceed 2J per cent of the taxable 
property of such city; and no debt shall ever be created by 
any city unless at the same time provision be made to assess 
and collect annually a sufficient sum to pay the interest thereon 
and create a sinking fund of at least 2 per cent thereon. 
Sec. 6. Counties, cities, and towns are authorized, in such 
mode as may now or may hereafter be provided by law, to levy, 
assess, and collect the taxes necessary to pay the interest and 
provide a sinking fund to satisfy any indebtedness heretofore 
legally made and undertaken; but all such taxes shall be 
assessed and collected separately from that levied, assessed, 
and collected for current expenses of municipal government, 
and shall, when levied, specify in the act of levying the purpose 
therefor, and such taxes may be paid in the coupons, bonds, 
or other indebtedness for the payment of which such tax may 
have been levied. 
Sec. 7. (All counties and cities bordering on the coast of the 
Gulf of Mexico are hereby authorized, upon a vote of two- 
thirds of the taxpayers therein (to be ascertained as may be 
provided by law), to levy and collect such tax for construction 
of sea walls, breakwaters, or sanitary purposes as may be 
authorized by law.) 
Sec. 8. (The property of counties, cities, and towns held for 
public purposes is exempt from taxation.) 
Sec. 10. The legislature may constitute any city or town a 
separate and independent school district. And when the citi 
zens of any city or town have a charter, authorizing the city 
authorities to levy and collect a tax for the support and main 
tenance of a public institution of learning, such tax may here 
after be levied and collected if, at an election held for that 
purpose, two-thirds of the taxpayers of such city or town shall 
vote for such tax. 
OFFICERS. 
The officers most directly concerned with taxation 
are: 
(1) Town and city assessors, elected every two years. 
(2) Town and city collectors, elected every two years. 
(la) County assessor, elected by the county for a term of 
two years. 
(2a) County collector, elected for two years in counties with 
a population of over 10,000; in others the sheriff is ex officio 
collector. 
(3) County board of equalization, composed of the commis 
sioners’ court of the county. 
(4) Comptroller of public accounts. 
(5) Board of equalization for unorganized counties, con 
sisting of the governor, attorney general, and secretary of 
state. 
(6) State tax board composed of the comptroller of public 
accounts, the secretary of state, and a third member appointed 
for two years by the governor to be known as the tax 
commissioner. 
(7) The governor, comptroller of public accounts, and the 
state treasurer constitute a board to calculate the ad valorem 
tax to be levied each year for state and public school purposes. 
State Revenues. 
A. GENERAL PROPERTY TAXES. 
1. Base— 
a. The property included and exempt.—All prop 
erty, real, personal, or mixed, except such as is ex 
pressly exempted, is subject to taxation. 
(1) Real property, for purposes of taxation, is construed 
to include the land itself and all buildings, structures, and 
improvements or other fixtures thereon, and all rights and 
privileges appertaining thereto, and all mines, minerals, quar 
ries, and fossils in and under the same; also standing timber. 
(2) Personal property includes all goods, chattels, and 
effects, and all moneys, credits, bonds and other evidences of 
debt owned by citizens of the state, whether the same be in or 
out of the state; all ships, boats, and vessels belonging to 
inhabitants of the state, if registered in the state, whether ar 
home or abroad, and all capital invested therein; all moneys 
at interest within or without the state due to the person to be 
taxed above what he pays interest for, and all other debts due 
to such person over and above his indebtedness; all public stock 
and securities; all stock in corporations (except national 
banks) out of the state owned by residents; all personal estate 
of moneyed corporations, whether the owners thereof are resi 
dents or nonresidents; the income of any annuity, unless the 
capital of such annuity be taxed within the state; all shares 
in any national bank; all improvements made by persons on 
lands held by them, the title'to which is still vested in the state