In 1881 the poll tax levied by the state was $2, $1 of which was for general revenue purposes and $1 for the benefit of the public free schools. Counties and cities were each permitted to levy a tax of $1. The total poll tax which might be levied was $4. In 1882 the state tax was fixed at $1.50, $1 of which was for the public free schools and 50 cents for general revenue purposes. The tax which counties might levy was fixed at 25 cents.1 It is not permitted to towns to levy a poll tax, but that which cities can lew is $1.2 These rates have not changed since 1882.

The state and county tax is payable between October 1 and February 1 by every male person between the ages of 21 and 60 who has resided in the state on the first day of January preceding its levy. Those exempted from its payment other than by reason of age and sex are Indians, persons insane, blind, deaf, or dumb, and those who have lost a hand or foot or are permanently disabled.3 Active members of the national guard are exempt from the tax of 50 cents for general revenue purposes.

That payment of the poll tax should be a prerequisite to voting was proposed by Senator A. W. Terrell in 1883, but this was not enacted into law until 1903.4 The Terrell Election Law of 1903-5 seeks to prevent the payment of the poll tax by another and selfishly interested person.5 Violations of this feature of the law sometimes come to light.6 Because the payment of the tax is made a prerequisite to the exercise of the suffrage, it is sometimes called a fee. In the contemplation of the law, however, it is a tax, for it is expected that every male person within the age limits shall pay it. In intention it is a compulsory payment levied upon persons for the common benefit and so is a tax. For the payment of the poll tax there is a lien on the poll's real and personal property, except the homestead.1

1 Laws of 1882, p. 18. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, art. 7354.

2 Morris v. Cummings, 91 Tex., 618 (1898). Perry v. City of Rockdale, 62 Tex.. 451 (1884). Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, art. 927.

3 Laws of 1905, p. 520. Bigham v. Clubb, 42 Tex. Civ. App., 312 (1906).

4 Laws of 1903, p. 133. Laws of 1905, p. 520. Rev. Civil Stats., 1911, arts. 2938-2963. Galveston News, February 2 and 15, 1883.

5 Solon v. The State, 54 Texas Crim. Rep., 261 (1908).

6 The Corpus Christi Caller, September 3-18, 1915, for the report of the Federal grand jury on Nueces County election frauds, and for a report of the trial.

Evasion of the poll tax has taken place to a great extent.2 In 1890 the number of polls assessed was 382,534; the number of these who were insolvent, delinquent, or erroneously assessed was 111,190 or 29 per cent. As the United States Census of 1890 reported 490,632 males between the age of 21 and 60, those who were finally liable for the tax were only 55 per cent of those who were assessable. Padding of the rolls by the assessor in order to get the fee for assessment explains to some extent the great number of those who are insolvent, delinquent or erroneously assessed.3 In 1900 polls assessed numbered 525,823, but of this number 179,028, or 34 per cent, were insolvent, delinquent or erroneously assessed. The census reported 674,697 males within the poll tax age limits, so that those whom the tax finally reached were only 51 per cent of those assessable. In 1910 polls assessed numbered 705,832, those insolvent, delinquent, and erroneously assessed were 170,713, or 24 per cent, leaving 535,119 as the net number taxed. The census gave the' male population between the ages of 20 and 59 to be 932,500, and of this number those taxed constituted 57 per cent.4 On account of the different age limits of the population compared and because those who were exempted on other grounds than age were not deducted, 60 per cent would perhaps be nearer correct as showing what proportion of those who are liable to the tax paid it. The percentage was higher in 1910 than in either 1900 or 1890, and this was without doubt due to the requirement of the payment of the tax in order to vote. But this requirement has not cured evasion, and the condition exists in this state that only owners of real property are sure to be reached.

1 Ring v. Williams, 13 Tex. Crim. App., 609 (1896). In this case was upheld the seizure and sale of a sewing machine belonging to the delinquent poll, though he owned not more than two hundred and fifty dollars worth of household and kitchen furniture.

2 Report of the State Revenue Agent, 1894. Report of the Comptroller, 1898. Report of the Special Tax Commission, 1899, p. 111.

3 Lloyd P. Lochridge, in the Austin Statesman, January, 1913.

4 The age limits of the census population are not the same as those of the poll tax and the comparison is thereby violated to a certain extent. The census population would be smaller if the poll tax age limits were used.

Elections and agitation of the liquor question have stimulated payment of the poll tax by others than real property owners. In some years campaigns were carried on in the larger cities to secure poll tax payments, and in these campaigns numerous agencies were employed to combat the customary forgetfulness, indifference, and evasion of the average citizen. On the surface it seemed that these campaigns were evidences of rivalry among the cities, but it was charged that the movements were inspired by the liquor interests of the state, and the attorney general's department rendered an opinion that commercial organizations exceeded their charter powers in conducting such campaigns.1

The requirement of the payment of the poll tax as a prerequisite to voting has been attacked recently by organized labor as constituting an "unjust burden upon the wage worker," and its repeal has been called for.2 In the United States the poll tax has been very generally abandoned as a state tax, and in 1913 in only about twenty out of forty-nine states was it levied as a state tax. In only six of the twenty states was the tax used for general purposes; in the others it was principally for school purposes. In only four states, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, was its payment a prerequisite to voting.3 Without a marked changed either in the administration of the law or in the attitude of the average citizen toward taxation, the breaking of the bond between the poll tax and the vote would be sure to result in the non-payment of the tax except by such property owners as were reached for property taxation, and these would of course be mainly real property owners. The payment of a direct tax by each citizen is advocated by some eminent authorities as causing a livelier interest on the part of the citizen in the expenditures of the government and as making the "people feel that the payment of a tax is a necessary accompaniment of the enjoyment of civil rights."1 Since under the present methods of taxation the poll tax is the only direct tax paid by many citizens, the repeal of the tax would result in many eligible taxpayers escaping taxation altogether. The tax is not burdensome, except perhaps in cities which levy a poll tax. In such cases the total tax - state, county and city, is $2.75. In 1913 out of 91 Texas cities with a population of 2,500 and over 69 employed the poll tax.2

1 Austin American, January 8, 1916. This opinion was disregarded by some organizations.

2 Proceedings of the Texas State Federation of Labor, 1914, p. 118. Austin American, April 28, 1916.

3 U. S. Census on Wealth, Debt, and Taxation, 1913, vol. 1.

State poll tax receipts show a decreasing financial importance. In 1881 they constituted 22.9 per cent of total tax receipts; in 1891, 10.4 per cent; in 1901, 10.2 per cent; in 1915, 6.1 per cent.

1 Bullock, Selected Readings in Public Finance, p. 309, quoting Leroy-Beaulieu. 2U. S. Census on Wealth, Debt, and Taxation, vol. 2, p. 546.