2025 Code of Georgia
Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation (Chs. 1 — 18)

Annotations

Notes

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 1978, p. 309 enacted a recodification of the revenue laws for the state. Section 1 of the Act provides that the intent of the General Assembly was to provide for a general recodification of revenue laws, to omit obsolete and duplicative provisions, to make uniform administrative provisions where uniformity was possible without major substantive change, and to use simple understandable English in the revenue laws. The section further provides that it was not the intent of the General Assembly to make any substantive change in the revenue laws of this state as the laws existed prior to January 1, 1980, except as expressly provided in the reenactment.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor’s notes.

In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under Ga. L. 1929, p. 58 and former Code 1933, T. 92, which were subsequently repealed but were succeeded by provisions in this title, are included in the annotations for this title.

Revenue laws to be construed in favor of taxpayer. —

Revenue laws are neither remedial statutes nor laws founded upon any permanent public policy, and are not, therefore, to be liberally construed. Hence, whenever there is a just doubt, that doubt should absolve the taxpayer from the burden. Mystyle Hosiery Shops, Inc. v. Harrison, 171 Ga. 430, 155 S. E. 765, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 374 (1930) (decided under Ga. L. 1929, p. 58).

Effect upon local laws. —

The 1978 Georgia Public Revenue Code, Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, did not repeal by implication a local Act authorizing a city and county to contract for a consolidated board of tax assessors, and a later statute repealing the local Act was not void. Chatham County v. Hussey, 267 Ga. 895, 485 S. E.2d 753, 1997 Ga. LEXIS 168 (1997).

Revenue laws require strict construction. —

Statutes which impose restrictions upon trade or common occupations, and which levy an excise or tax upon those trades or occupations, must be construed strictly. Mystyle Hosiery Shops, Inc. v. Harrison, 171 Ga. 430, 155 S. E. 765, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 374 (1930) (decided under Ga. L. 1929, p. 58).

Revenue laws are not to be extended by implication. —

Statutes levying duties or taxes upon subjects or citizens are to be construed most strongly against the government, and in favor of their subjects or citizens, and their provisions are not to be extended, by implication, beyond the clear import of the language used. Mystyle Hosiery Shops, Inc. v. Harrison, 171 Ga. 430, 155 S. E. 765, 1930 Ga. LEXIS 374 (1930) (decided under Ga. L. 1929, p. 58).

When taxpayer’s remedies do not expressly include action at law, such action does not lie. —

When the General Assembly authorizes a tax for governmental purposes and provides an adequate remedy for the tax’s collection by administrative officers, the necessary intent is that the collection of the tax is exclusively confined to that administrative department of the government, and when the statute undertakes to provide remedies for the collection of taxes, and those given do not embrace an action at law, a common-law action for the recovery of taxes as a debt will not lie. Kirk v. Bray, 181 Ga. 814, 184 S. E. 733, 1936 Ga. LEXIS 443 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, T. 92).

Court of equity has no power to foreclose lien and order sale. —

Power to levy and collect taxes is exclusively a legislative function, and unless authorized by statute, a court of equity is without power to foreclose a lien for taxes and order a sale of the property. No such power having been conferred by statute on a court of equity in this state, a court errs in decreeing that land be sold by the sheriff for the payment of state and county taxes. Kirk v. Bray, 181 Ga. 814, 184 S. E. 733, 1936 Ga. LEXIS 443 (1936) (decided under former Code 1933, T. 92).

Opinion Notes

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL Editor’s notes.

In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, an opinion under former Code 1933, T. 92, which was subsequently repealed but was succeeded by provisions in this title, is included in the annotations for this title.

Transaction must have object other than tax evasion. —

While ordinarily motive is not controlling in a transaction planned for tax avoidance purposes, the rule is subject to an exception. There must be some authentic object other than the defeat of a tax. 1962 Ga. Op. Att'y Gen. 558 (decided under former Code 1933, T. 92).

Research References & Practice Aids

Law reviews.

For article surveying taxpayers’ remedies in Georgia, see 1 Ga. B. J. 19 (1939).

For article discussing application of the principle that he who would have equity must do equity to taxpayer’s suits, see 7 Ga. St. B. J. 305 (1971).

For article discussing taxation of foreign businesses in Georgia, see 27 Mercer L. Rev. 629 (1976).

For article surveying provisions of the Public Revenue Code, former Code 1933, T. 92 (see this title), see 14 Ga. St. B. J. 156 (1978).

For article, “A Practical Guide to State Tax Practice,” see 15 Ga. St. B. J. 74 (1978).

For article, “Reflections on the Revenue Act of 1978 and Future Tax Policy,” see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 687 (1979).

For article surveying judicial decisions affecting Georgia’s state and local taxation laws, decided under the prior Public Revenue Code, Code 1933, Title 92 (see this title), see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 217 (1979).

For article discussing ad valorem taxation and interest in real property in Georgia, prior to the enactment of the Georgia Public Revenue Code, T. 48, see 31 Mercer L. Rev. 293 (1979).

For annual survey on state and local taxation, see 36 Mercer L. Rev. 307 (1984).

For article surveying state and local tax law, see 37 Mercer L. Rev. 361 (1985).

For annual survey of state and local taxation, see 40 Mercer L. Rev. 357 (1988).

For annual survey of state and local taxation, see 42 Mercer L. Rev. 421 (1990).

For article, “Revenue and Taxation: Sales and Use Taxes,” see 29 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 112 (2012).

For article, “Simplexity: Plain Language and the Tax Law,” see 66 Emory L. J. 189 (2017).

For article, “The Offshore Tax Enforcement Dragnet,” see 67 Emory L. J. 655 (2018).

For article, “America’s (D)evolving Childcare Tax Laws,” see 53 Ga. L. Rev. 1093 (2019).

For article, “Taxation of Settlement Payments,” see 25 Ga. St. B. J. 19 (Oct. 2019).

For article, “Borrowing from Millennials to Pay Boomers: Can Tax Policy Create Sustainable Intergenerational Equity,” see 36 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 799 (2020).

For note, “Pay Toll with Coins: Looking Back on FBAR Penalties and Prosecutions to Inform the Future of Cryptocurrency Taxation,” see 55 Ga. L. Rev. 359 (2020).

For article, “SB 6: The Review, Creation, and Extension of Georgia Tax Credits and Deductions,” see 38 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 167 (2021).

For article with annual survey on state and local taxation, see 73 Mercer L. Rev. 231 (2021).

For article, “Gratuitous Wealth: How Wealth Transfer Tax Avoidance Contributes to America's Unwinding,” see 58 Ga. L. Rev. 1347 (2024).

For article surveying state and local tax law, see 76 Mercer L. Rev. 363 (2024).

RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR.

Validity of statutory classifications based on population — tax statutes, 98 A. L. R.3d 1083.