The property tax was a business tax inasmuch as it applied to the real and personal property which was employed in any business. In fact, the property tax was the only business tax. except license or occupation taxes upon certain occupations.

Payment of the occupation tax levied by the state was made to the assessor and collector of taxes, and the license was issued by the county clerk upon presentation of the tax receipt.5 Until 1848 the shortest time for which a license could be issued was one year, but in 1848 four months were made the minimum period. Under the act of 1846 failure or refusal to pay the tax subjected the person to a forfeiture of double the amount of the tax for each month in which the business was engaged in without a license, and recovery of this penalty was by suit brought in a court of proper jurisdiction.1 From 1848 to 1858, only the amount of the tax was recoverable, and the delinquent's property could be levied upon and sold for that purpose. In 1858 the penalty of double the amount of the tax was restored.

1 Laws of 1852, p. 93.

2 Laws of 1854, p. 30. Laws of 1856, Adj. Sess., p. 43.

3 Veto message of Governor Pease, January 21, 1854.

4 Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Matagorda and Nacogdoches were counties which had in 1852 the largest excess of outside holdings, and they were also the richest counties.

5 Laws of 1846, p. 357. Laws of 1848, p. 203. Laws of 1850, p. 218.

Practically all occupations, except agricultural and mechanical, were taxed. Lawyers and doctors were taxed $5 annually until 1848, when the tax was repealed. The taxes on the merchandise and liquor occupations were the most important. Under the act of April 28, 1846, wholesale merchants were taxed $100 on each establishment; retail merchants, $25; dealers in spirituous liquors in quantities of a quart or over, $25; dealers in quantities of less than a quart, $50.2 This method of a uniform charge irrespective of the amount of capital employed in the business was thought to operate unequally upon the small dealer and to lead to the concentration of business in the towns and in the hands of a few persons.3 In 1848 the law was changed in order to meet these objections, and there was levied a tax of one-fifth of one per cent on the purchases of wholesale and retail merchants and of dealers in spirituous liquors in quantities of a quart or more.4 The assessor was required to call upon dealers at least every three months to get the returns of purchases. Failure to make true returns made the offender liable to a fine of $50. This special tax was in addition to the ad valorem tax on the property, including the stock in trade, of the taxpayers.5 The immediate result of the law of 1848 was a decrease in receipts from the occupation tax which amounted to 32 per cent in 1848 as compared with the receipts of 1847, and to 23 per cent in 1849 as compared with receipts of 1848. The receipts from liquor dealers and merchants were nearly equal until 1855, but in that year an anti-liquor movement over the state cut down retail establishments and lessened the receipts from the liquor taxes.1 The receipts from occupation taxes fluctuated from year to year and they constituted only 11.5 per cent of the assessed taxes to 1860. The system of taxing according to purchases provided an opportunity for evasion, and the conclusion was in 1861 that the law utterly failed of its purpose.2

1 Aulanier v. the Governor, 1 Tex., 653 (1846); State v. Bock, 9 Tex., 369 (1853).

2 Laws of 1846, p. 146.

3 Report of the Committee on Finance; House Journal, 2nd Leg., pp. 318-320.

4 Laws of 1848, p. 151. Laws of 1858, p. 258. State v. Stephen, 4 Tex., 140 (1849).

5 Laws of 1848, p. 152.