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Taxation - Historical Notes

Assessor of Property

The following acts were superseded, repealed or failed to win local ratification, but they are listed here as a reference to laws which once affected the Fayette County Assessor.  Also referenced below are acts which repeal prior law without providing new substantive provisions.

  1. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 676, granted the authority to the Quarterly County Court of Fayette County, identified by the use of the 1910 Federal Census figures, to fix the annual salary of the Tax Assessor at no less than $1,000 and no more than $1,500 per annum which amount, so fixed, would be paid out of the Treasury of the County.
  2. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 696, created the office of Delinquent Poll Tax Collector in Fayette County, who would be appointed by the County Judge, or Chairman, for a term of two years.  The Act named T. H. Griffin as the first Delinquent Poll Tax Collector who would serve until the Judge appointed his successor at the April, 1928, term of Court.  All polls not paid by May 1, 1927, and on or before March 1 of each year thereafter were delinquent and would be turned over to the Collector who would be paid seventy cents, plus the usual fee for the service of process, for each one collected.  It was the duty of the Delinquent Poll Tax Collector to assess all he came across who were liable to pay.  The list of delinquents would be a judgment against them on which distress warrants could be issued.  The Collector shall use only the receipt books furnished by the Trustee, would not accept partial payments, and would pay over all money collected to the Trustee.  The Collector could inspect all payrolls, and other records, conduct hearings and summon witnesses. 
  3. Private Acts of 1929, Chapter 449, amended Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 696, Section 1, above, by giving the appointing power for the Delinquent Poll Tax Collector to the Quarterly Court, instead of the County Judge, or Chairman, and by making the first appointment by the Court due in the April, 1929, term, and by adding the words "and execute" after the word "issue" in Section 4. 
  4. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 223, created the office of Delinquent Poll Tax Collector in all counties with a population of no less than 22,193 nor more than 30,000, which would include Fayette County according to the 1930 Federal Census.  This Act is virtually a duplicate of the 1927 Act, above, which was already in effect in Fayette County.
  5. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 518, amended Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 223, Section 2, above, by providing that all poll taxes not paid by May 1, 1931, or by March 1 of each year hereafter after the year in which they become due, would be turned over to the Delinquent Poll Tax Collector for collection; also, in Section 2, by stating that in every instance where it may come to the attention of the Delinquent Poll Tax Collector that any eligible male citizen, who is liable under the law for the payment of poll taxes for previous years, but was not assessed, it was the duty of the Collector to assess and collect the same.
  6. Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 757, expressly repealed Private Acts of 1931, Chapter 223, above, as it was amended, in its entirety.
  7. Private Acts of 1933, Chapter 706, expressly repealed Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 676, above, in its entirety.
  8. Private Acts of 1951, Chapter 566, made it the duty of the Tax Assessor of Fayette County to devote his entire time to the duties of his office and to open and maintain during business hours an office in the courthouse where he would be accessible to all taxpayers.  Section 2 fixed the annual salary of the Tax Assessor at $3,600 payable in equal monthly installments out of the County Treasury on the warrant of the County Judge, or Chairman.

Taxation

The following is a listing of acts pertaining to taxation in Fayette County which are no longer effective.

  1. Acts of 1824, Chapter 119, directed that the County Trustee of Hardeman County to pay over to the Trustee of Fayette County the amount of County taxes which had, or would thereafter be, collected by the Sheriff of Hardeman County for lands in 1824 which were lying within the county of Fayette.
  2. Acts of 1825, Chapter 95, was the authority for the County Courts of Shelby County and Fayette County to lay a tax not exceeding 25 cents per 100 acres on all taxable land for the next five years for the improvement of the Wolf River as it runs through those counties.  The money collected in either County was to be spent in that County.  The County Courts were also enabled to appoint Commissioners to supervise the work and the expending of the funds.
  3. Acts of 1829, Chapter 44, made it lawful for Fayette County Quarterly Court, a majority of the Justices being present, to lay a tax, not to exceed the State and County tax, at the first Court each year, as long as may be necessary, to raise a fund to complete the building of a Court House in Somerville.  The Sheriff shall collect the tax and pay it over to the Commissioners charged with the oversight of the Court House construction.
  4. Acts of 1870, Chapter 50, was the authority for counties and cities to impose taxes for county and municipal purposes in the following manner, (1) that all taxable property shall be taxed according to its value upon the principles established in regard to State taxation, and (2) that the credit of no county, city, or town, shall be given, or loaned, to any person, firm, or corporation, except upon the consent of a majority of the Quarterly Court, or the Mayor and Aldermen, and upon an election being held wherein three-fourths of the voters approve the proposition.  Several counties exempted themselves from the requirement of the three-fourths plurality in the election, stating that for the next ten years, a simple majority of the voters could validly approve.  Fayette County was not an exempting county.
  5. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 596, authorized the Quarterly Court of Fayette County to levy a tax of $4 each year on each male resident between the ages of 21 and 50 but the tax could be worked out on the county roads at a rate of 50 cents per day. 
  6. Private Acts of 1967, Chapter 178, amended Private Acts of 1963, Chapter 7, in Section 1 by increasing the amount of the tax from $5 to $10 and by deleting Section 4 which delegated this revenue to be used for the payment of teachers salaries and substituted a provision that the tax be divided one-half for teachers salaries and one-half to go to Board of Roads and Bridges for the maintenance of roads and bridges in the county.
  7. Private Acts of 1967, Chapter 208, amended Private Acts of 1963, Chapter 7, by adding the provision after the second sentence in Section 3 which required an affidavit to be filed by a non-resident of the county and by adding the paragraph seen at the end of Section 5.
  8. Private Acts of 1971, Chapter 120, amended Private Acts of 1963, Chapter 7, by deleting Section 4, which divided the revenue between teacher's salaries and the road department, and inserted a new Section which applied these funds to any annual deficit incurred by any hospital operated by Fayette County.  Any excess over that requirement would be placed in the general fund.
  9. Private Acts of 1972, Chapter 255, amended Private Acts of 1963, Chapter 7, as amended, by deleting Section 4 and inserting a new Section 4 which directed the proceeds of the wheel tax in Fayette County, when collected in the hands of the Trustee, to be applied one-half to the extent necessary to pay any annual deficit occurred in the operation of any hospital by the county and the surplus over that, if any, would be placed in the general fund, and the other one-half would go to the Road and Bridge Funds.  This Act was rejected by the County Court and never became effective under the Home Rule Amendment to the Constitution.
  10. Private Acts of 2003, Chapter 38, amended Private Acts of 2001, Chapter 69, relative to the Fayette County Adequate Facilities Tax.  The act failed to receive local approval.