Gainesville-Hall County Economic Opportunity Organization, Inc. v. Blackmon

212 S.E.2d 341, 233 Ga. 507, 1975 Ga. LEXIS 1360
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 28, 1975
Docket29216
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 212 S.E.2d 341 (Gainesville-Hall County Economic Opportunity Organization, Inc. v. Blackmon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gainesville-Hall County Economic Opportunity Organization, Inc. v. Blackmon, 212 S.E.2d 341, 233 Ga. 507, 1975 Ga. LEXIS 1360 (Ga. 1975).

Opinions

Gunter, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment granted in the trial court in favor of the Revenue Commissioner in a sales tax case. The commissioner assessed a deficiency plus penalty and interest against the taxpayer, the taxpayer appealed the assessment to superior court pursuant to Code Ann. § 92-8446, both sides moved for summary judgment, and the commissioner’s motion was granted and the taxpayer’s motion was denied. The issues for decision are: (a) the constitutionality of the tax collection procedures, (b) the applicability of an exemption to the appellant-taxpayer, and (c) the existence of a material question of fact in this case.

I.

We first deal with the issue of whether the tax collection procedures amount to a denial of due process of law in that a hearing is not provided for the taxpayer prior to his either having to post a bond or pay the tax. The trial judge ruled that the tax collection procedures provided by statute do not violate procedural due process, and we affirm that ruling.

Code Ann. § 92-3402a provides that the commissioner is empowered, when any sales tax becomes delinquent, to issue an execution for collection of the tax. There are then four statutory methods available to the taxpayer in contesting the assessment and execution. The taxpayer may: (1) appeal the assessment directly to the superior court, as was done in this case, under §§ 92-3434a and 92-8446. Before the superior court may take jurisdiction of the appeal, the taxpayer must file a bond or other security to cover all contested taxes unless he [508]*508owns real property in Georgia of a value in excess of the amount in dispute. The proceeding in superior court is a de novo investigation; (2) pay the tax and make the claim for refund under §§ 92-3434a and 92-8436; (3) file an affidavit of illegality to the levy of the execution and have the case heard in superior court under Code § 92-7301. Again, the taxpayer must post a bond; (4) pursue an administrative hearing under the Administrative Procedure Act. A taxpayer who chooses this remedy gives up his other remedies (§ 3A-113 (d)); must accept an administrative determination of the facts (§§ 3A-120 (g) and (h)), and is subject to the discretion of the commissioner and/or reviewing court as to whether collection procedures will be stayed (§§ 3A-113 (c), 3A-120 (d)).

The taxpayer’s argument- is that, under these four procedures there is no way for a taxpayer to get a fair hearing on his liability before he has to give up his property by paying the tax or by posting a bond. In Hicks v. Stewart Oil Co., 182 Ga. 654 (186 SE 802) (1936), the State Revenue Commission issued an execution against the taxpayer, and the taxpayer challenged it on due process grounds, among others. This court held that there was no denial of due process because of the availability of the affidavit of illegality procedure, even though under that procedure the taxpayer had to pay the tax or post bond prior to getting a hearing.

We think the rulings by the federal courts are consistent with Hicks. In Phillips v. Commissioner, 283 U. S. 589 (51 SC 608, 75 LE 1289) (1931), a stockholder was assessed for a federal tax deficiency after a corporation dissolved leaving federal taxes due. The taxpayer challenged the assessment on the ground that it was made without a prior hearing. The Supreme Court of the United States rejected this challenge on the ground that the taxpayer had available either of two methods of securing review of the assessment. The court stated (p. 595): "The right of the United States to collect its internal revenue by summary administrative proceedings has long been settled. Where, as here, adequate opportunity is afforded for a later judicial determination of the legal rights, summary proceedings to secure prompt per[509]*509formance of pecuniary obligations to the government have been consistently sustained. Compare Cheatham v. United States, 92 U. S. 85, 88-89; Springer v. United States, 102 U. S. 586, 594; Hagar v. Reclamation District No. 108, 111 U. S. 701, 708-709. Property rights must yield provisionally to governmental need.”

In Fuentes v. Shevin, 407 U. S. 67 (92 SC 1983, 32 LE2d 556) (1972), the Supreme Court of the United States acknowledged (pp. 90-92) that there "are 'extraordinary situations’ that justify postponing notice and opportunity for a hearing.” In giving examples, the court, citing Phillips, stated: "Thus, the court has allowed summary seizure of property to collect the internal revenue of the United States.” The lower federal courts have continued, since Fuentes, to apply Phillips in upholding federal tax collection procedures even where the commissioner makes jeopardy assessments and seizes the taxpayers’ property prior to any hearing. See Parrish v. Daly, 350 FSupp. 735 (S. D. Ind. 1972); Laing v. United States, 364 FSupp. 469 (D. Ver. 1973), aff'd, 496 F2d 853 (2d Cir., 1974); Commonwealth Development Assn. of Pa. v. United States, 365 FSupp. 792 (N. D. Pa. 1973); Muncaster v. Baptist, 367 FSupp. 1120 (N. D. Ala. 1973); Lewis v. Sandler, 498 F2d 395 (4th Cir., 1974).

We therefore hold that Georgia’s procedures, specified above, satisfy procedural due process requirements.

II.

The appellant-taxpayer in this case is a private eleemosynary corporation, funded from public and private sources, which conducts several community action programs designed to help individuals combat poverty. The major programs are neighborhood youth corps, training for the mentally retarded, training for senior citizens, day care and pre-school training for children six months to six years of age, and general adult education. Although there is some overlap, the age groups and subject matters covered by these programs are generally different from those covered by the public school system.

Code § 92-3403a (C) (2), (m) and (u) provide for certain exemptions to private elementary and secondary schools. [510]*510The taxpayer argues that it is a "private elementary and secondary school” within the meaning of these provisions for exemption. It will have to be sufficient here to merely say that this taxpayer does not fit the definition contained in these statutory provisions allowing exemption.

III.

Code § 92-3402a(e) provides in part: "Whenever a purchaser of tangible personal property under subsection (a)... does not pay the tax imposed hereunder upon him to the retailer . . . involved in the taxable transaction, such purchaser . . . shall thereupon himself be a dealer as defined hereunder, and the State Revenue Commissioner, whenever he has reason to believe that a purchaser . . . has not so paid such tax shall have authority to assess and collect the tax imposed thereunder directly against and from such purchaser . .. unless such purchaser . . . can show that the retailer . . . involved in . the transaction has nevertheless remitted to the State Revenue Commissioner the tax imposed on the transaction.”

Appellant-taxpayer argues that this language provides the retail purchaser with either of two defenses to the assessment.

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212 S.E.2d 341, 233 Ga. 507, 1975 Ga. LEXIS 1360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gainesville-hall-county-economic-opportunity-organization-inc-v-blackmon-ga-1975.