In "A Rose for Emily," why don't the aldermen collect taxes from Emily Grierson?

The aldermen try several times to collect Emily's taxes,
finally going in person to see her at home. They don't succeed in collecting them
because Emily refuses to pay them. She believes that her taxes are paid in Jefferson
because Colonel Sartoris had told her so at the time of her father's death many years
before. Sartoris had deceived Emily out of kindness, knowing that she could not afford
to pay the taxes and that she would not accept charity. When the aldermen appear in her
living room, she tells them to check their records; when the aldermen say there are no
records to show her taxes are paid, she tells them to talk to Colonel Sartoris. This
they cannot do since he has been dead for almost a
decade.

The aldermen do not pursue the issue further. Emily
Grierson is an old woman, apparently out of touch with reality. Additionally and very
importantly, she is a Grierson. The aldermen are respectful of her and of her family
history in Jefferson; they are, in fact, intimidated by her. Southern gentlemen all,
they leave immediately when Miss Emily coldly tells Tobe to show them
out.