‘Doonesbury’s’ Texas Residency Prank Hits Home With Official

State Comptroller John Sharp is offering unofficial Texas residency to those who sent in “Doonesbury” coupons to be “just like the Prez” and avoid paying state income taxes where their home--but not their heart--is.

Sharp, a Democrat, printed tongue-in-cheek certificates to answer the 150 comic-strip coupons seeking Texas residency he has received in three days from 29 states and Brazil. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau ran the coupon last Sunday.

A California couple said they deserved to be Texans because they own a pickup truck and a pair of Tony Lama cowboy boots. A New Jersey man said he was a graduate of Texas A&M; University “whom a sad fate has taken to New Joisey.”

The certificates, printed with Sharp’s political funds, grant unofficial Texas residency--”Good for state income tax purposes only. (And then only if you can get away with it).”

President Bush claims a Houston hotel suite as his legal residence but has not lived in Texas full time since 1966. Texas has no income tax--unlike Maine, where Bush has a vacation home, or the District of Columbia, where the White House is located.

In Maine this week, a consumer group complained that Bush should pay $165,000 in state income taxes that he would owe if he were considered a resident for the 10 years that he has owned the Kennebunkport compound.