§2053.  Failure to give bond

The auditor shall not recognize any tax collector until his bond and oath of office are filed in the auditor's office and his bond recorded in the mortgage office of the parish for which he is appointed.  In case any collector fails, refuses, or neglects to give bond and security, as required, within thirty days after date of his appointment, his office shall be deemed vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, if the senate be in session; if not, then the appointment shall continue until the adjournment of the next meeting of the legislature, or until a successor is appointed and qualified, but such an appointment shall not exonerate the collector failing to qualify from any liabilities incurred by him.

Any tax collector or person collecting or attempting to collect any taxes in the state or in any parish without having been duly qualified and having given bond in accordance with R.S. 47:2052, or without having lawful authority so to do, shall be subject to a fine of not less than one thousand dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, and to be imprisoned not less than two or more than five years at hard labor.  It shall be the duty of the Attorney General in New Orleans and of district attorneys of other parishes in the state, upon information from the auditor or from the president of the police jury, to prosecute all such cases in their respective parishes or districts.  A fee of fifty dollars upon each conviction shall be paid to the attorney prosecuting.

H.C.R. No. 88, 1993 R.S., eff. May 30, 1993; H.C.R. No. 1, 1994 R.S., eff. May 11, 1994.