Article VIII, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution
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Adopted February 15, 1876:
The Legislature shall have no power to release the inhabitants of, or property in, any county, city or town from the payment of taxes levied for State or county purposes, unless in case of great public calamity in any such county, city or town, when such release may be made by a vote of two-thirds of each house of the Legislature.
Editor Comments
None.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Jones v. Williams, 45 S.W.2d 130, 131-32 (Tex. 1931) ("It is to be noted that the constitutional provision does not authorize the release of taxes over the state at large, even for public calamities. . . . What we do say is that, from an interpretation of the language used in section 10 of article 8, in the light of the definitions of 'calamity' quoted, and the rule of construction stated above, it is clear that the type of public calamity within the meaning of the language employed is one due to natural causes, and which ordinarily confines its destructive effect to subdivisions of the state; and that the section has no reference to world-wide, nation-wide, and state-wide cycles of industrial and business depression.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)