Does rim width affect what tire size I can use

Did so but received conflicting advice.... for example one thread spoke about a general rule of thumb of a tire width being no more than 2 inches more than the width of the rim. Other sites disagree with this ratio. Others suggest that 185/75r/14 will fit on a 4.5 but anything wider should be on a 5.5...thought I'd ask people with more hands on experience with these sorts of things