From 1846 to 1848 a poll tax of $1.00 was levied upom every free male person between the ages of 21 and 60, Indians and persons non compos mentis excepted.3 In 1848 the age limits were made 21 and 55.4 In 1858 the tax was reduced to fifty cents, and the maximum age limit was changed to 50.5 There were 15,310 persons assessed for the tax in 1846, and 53,376 in 1859. The United States Census of 1850 reported for Texas a white male population between the ages of 20 and 60 of 38,692, and the census of 1860 reported one of 91,197 between the ages of 20 and 50. Those assessed for the tax in 1859 were approximately 58 per cent of those who were liable. The poll taxes assessed from 1846 to 1860 constituted 9.8 per cent of the total assessed taxes.

The receipts from all the different taxes levied by the state, the counties, the towms, and other taxing districts, amounted in 1852 to $131,313, divided as follows: state, $74,936; county, $35,-055; all others, $21,332.6 The census does not tell from what taxes these receipts were derived. In 1860 the total tax receipts of the different taxing jurisdictions were $533,265, divided as follows: state, $298,859; counties, $208,053; towns and cities,. $24,409; school and miscellaneous, $1,944.7 Not much reliance can be put in the amount reported for towns and cities, for it is obviously too small. There were forty-two towns and cities in Texas in 1860 with populations ranging from about 100 to over 8,000, and it is absurd to believe that their total tax bill was only $24,409. The explanation for the small amount reported may be that the census has included under county tax receipts some receipts which belong to towns and cities.

1 Report of the Comptroller, 1854-5, p. 13; 1858-9, p. 14. Also message of Governor Pease, November 5, 1855; Senate Journal, 6th Leg.. Reg. Sess., p. 12.

2 Report of the Comptroller, 1860-1, p. 105. 3Laws of 1846, p. 146. 4Laws of 1848, p. 151. 5Laws of 1858, p. 258.

6 Compendium of the Seventh Census of the United States, p. 190. 7Eighth Census of the United States. 1860. Vol. Mortality and Miscellaneous Statistics, p. 511.