There were defects in the system of collection. The sheriff performed this task of collection of. taxes in addition to his other duties. He was frequently derelict not only in making collections but also in making returns to the treasury of what he had collected.3 It was suggested that collectors should be appointed by the central government and subject to its rules, and therefore not amenable to local considerations, but though urged by both presidents Houston and Jones, the plan was not adopted.4

The frontier counties were in a state of almost continuous confusion owing to Indian and Mexican depredations, with resulting loss and insecurity of property, and it was often inability to pay due to these conditions that accounted for the failure to pay taxes.1

1 The statistics for resident and non-resident holdings are not available for any year of the republic, but those for 1848 are near enough to the period to be representative. The distinction between resident and non-resident, refers to ownership outside of the county, and not necessarily to ownership by one who is not a resident of the state. In 1848 the acres owned by residents were 17,807,643, valued at $13,-798,320; those owned by non-residents, 20,980,796, valued at $10,813,835; Comptroller's Report, 1848-1849.

2 Telegraph and Texas Register, January 2, 1839.

3 President Houston's message, December 12, 1843.

4 Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, November 1, 1842. Message of President Houston, December 12, 1843. Message of President Jones, December 16, 1844. Telegraph and Texas Register, December 6, 1843.

The use of the principle of a minimum valuation of land was an incentive to evasion, for the minimum was undoubtedly too high. From 1840 to 1842 it was $1.00 per acre, after 1842 it was fifty cents an acre. These taxes were more than the value of land taken on the average, considering the fact that land could be freely had by all immigrants.2 There was also a great amount of land scrip on the market, which fact served further to depress the value of land. Much of the deeded land also was unoccupied and was producing nothing, and the taxes upon it were a decided burden. The consequence was that where such land was assessed, the taxes were not paid, and arrears to an enormous amount accumulated. The total direct taxes assessed for the four years 1837-1840 were $639,219, and of this amount there remained unpaid in 1841 the sum of $337,592.3 During the three years 1842-1844 there was a total direct tax assessed of $168,257, of which amount there remained unpaid in 1846 the sum of $78,614. Thus of the total taxes assessed, most of which was on land, over fifty per cent remained unpaid.

Of the total revenue of the republic, direct taxes contributed 20.1%, license taxes, 4.1%. Down to 1842 the proportion was somewhat higher, that of direct taxes being 24.7%, that of license taxes, 4.4%. The receipts from property and business taxes for 1841 were the largest of any year, and this increase can be accounted for by the marked increase in rates made by the act of January 16, 1840. This increase in rates operated over the years also of largest expeditures and greatest issue of treasury notes, and was defended, as was the increase in customs duties at the same time, as necessary in order to adapt the receipts of the government to the condition of inflated prices. Under Houston's second administration there was a reaction against the high direct and business taxation as there was against the other policies of Lamar. Houston believed that direct taxes bore especially hard upon the farming class, and he recommended a repeal of the law authorizing the penalty of double taxes, the reduction of the direct tax by one-half, and the payment of all taxes in gold, silver or "paper of unquestionable character."1 The reduction that was made by congress in the act of February 5, 1842, exceeded his recommendation, but payment was required in the kinds of money recommended. The years following these changes show a negligible revenue from direct and license taxes. It is doubtful if the reduction in rates made any change in the weight of the taxes, on account of the changed requirement as to tender. The result was an increasing amount of arrears, and the practical breaking down of the system.2 Of the receipts from 1841 to 1846, direct taxes contributed 12.8%, as compared with 24.7% for the period before 1842, and license taxes, 3.7% as compared with 4.1%. Acts extending the time for the collection of taxes were passed in 1840 and the years following, but it is not apparent that they succeeded in inducing payments, and they remain as Legislative evidence of the prostration of the system.

1 Finance Committee Report, January 21, 1841; House Journal 5th Tex. Cong., app., p. 405. Telegraph and Texas Register, November 30, 1842. The act of December 21, 1838, exempted the resident citizens of some six frontier counties from land taxation, and the act of January 22, 1845, exempted the citizens of three counties from the payment of all direct taxes due up to the passage of the bill; Gammel, op. cit., vol. 2, pp. 11, 1071. Gouge, Fiscal History of Texas, p. 142.

2 Under the more secure and prosperous conditions of 1848 the assessed value of land averaged 63 cents an acre. This was perhaps less than its full value, by how much cannot be said, but it points to the conclusion that the minimum valuations, if not greater than the real value, were quite up to its limit.

3 Statement in the Telegraph and Texas Register, August 18, 1841, based on returns on file in the office of the commissioner of revenue.

1 Message of December 20, 1841. The Telegraph and Texas Register of January 12, 1842, said that the adoption of the president's suggestion would increase the existing rates to nearly three times their "intrinsic value," and that "the people would be overwhelmed by the burden." See also Yoakum, History of Texas, vol. 2, p. 348.

2 Messages of Houston, June 27, 1842, and December 12, 1843. Telegraph and Texas Register, November 30, 1842, and February 22, 1843. For the year 1843, of $49,000 assessed only $13,000 was collected; Yoakum, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 435. Of a total assessed in 1842 and 1843 of $111,771, only $58,196 was collected; Telegraph and Texas Register, January 8, 1845.