Blackmon v. Alexander, 29500
| Decision Date | 25 February 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 29500,29500 |
| Citation | 213 S.E.2d 842,233 Ga. 832 |
| Parties | John A. BLACKMON et al. v. Ben J. ALEXANDER. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., David A. Runnion, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for appellants.
Bobby F. Herndon, Savannah, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
Ben J. Alexander filed applications with the State Department of Revenue for licenses to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises and for a package store. Such applications were preliminarily denied on three grounds, but after hearing were finally denied on two grounds. Thereafter, the applicant sought a hearing in the Superior Court of Chatham County de novo under the provisions of Code Ann. § 92-8446.
After hearing evidence the trial judge issued findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment, in which he held that the licenses should be granted. The Revenue Commissioner appeals from that judgment.
1. The primary question to be considered is whether or not the decision of this court in Rozier v. Redwine, 211 Ga. 208, 85 S.E.2d 34, should, as the appellant contends, be overruled. That decision, rendered in 1954, ruled that the holder of a liquor license could not maintain a suit to enjoin the Commissioner of Revenue from canceling such license because Code Ann. § 92-8426.4 (Ga.L.1943, pp. 204, 206) provided for review of the Commissioner's decision by the superior court of the taxpayer's residence and the petitioner thus had an adequate remedy at law.
The office of Revenue Commissioner and the Department of Revenue were created in 1938 by an Act entitled 'Administration of Taxing Laws' (Ga.L.1937-38, Ex.Sess., p. 77). That Act, hereinafter identified as the 'tax administration act,' prescribed the Commissioner's powers and duties (Id. at pp. 80-81). That same Act created the Board of Tax Appeals and gave it the function of reviewing individual assessments and tax digest revisions made by the Commissioner (Id. pp. 89-90). It also provided for appeals from decisions of the tax board to the superior court of the taxpayer's residence (Id. at p. 100).
At that same session, the General Assembly passed the 'Revenue Tax Act to Legalize and Control Alcoholic Beverages and Liquors' (Ga.L.1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 103), hereinafter identified as the 'liquor act.' The liquor Act empowered the Revenue Commissioner to issue and decline to issue the licenses therein provided for, and to revoke or cancel them (Id. pp. 108, 109). He was given 'reasonable discretion' not to issue such licenses (Id. p. 108). The liquor Act made no provision for review by the Board of Tax Appeals (or for appeal to the superior court). The liquor Act is codified in Code Ann. Ch. 58-10.
Five years later the Tax Administration Act was amended by an Act which stated in its caption that its purpose was to abolish the Board of Tax Appeals and to provide for the discharge of its duties and functions (Ga.L.1943, p. 204). The amendment provided in pertinent part as follows (Ga.L.1943, pp. 204, 206): (Emphasis supplied.) This section was originally codified as Code Ann. § 92-8426.2. (See presently § 92-8426.4).
As was said in Williams v. Suwanee, etc., Mfg. Co., 96 Ga.App. 260, 263, 99 S.E.2d 734, 736, 'The effect of this amendment was to provide for appeals to the superior court from rulings of the Commissioner in those cases where previously the State Board of Tax Appeals was required to pass upon them before an appeal could be had to the superior court.' Thus, after the 1943 amendment, appeals from decisions of the Commissioner which formerly had gone to the Tax Board thereafter went directly to the superior court of the taxpayer's residence pursuant to Section 45 of the Tax Administration Act (which is codified as Code Ann. § 92-8446). Although Section 45 of the 1938 Tax Administration Act was not amended in the 1943 amendment, the codifiers were obliged to revise the forepart of Code Ann. § 92-8446 to delete reference to the Tax Board, as the codifiers' note shows.
Section 45 of the Tax Administration Act (Ga.L.1937-38, Ex.Sess., pp. 77, 100) actually reads in pertinent part as follows: 'The findings by the Board of Tax Appeals shall not be final; but either party may appeal from any order, ruling or finding of the said Board to the Superior Court of the county of the residence of the taxpayer . . .'
As can be seen above, Code Ann. §§ 92-8426.4 and 92-8446 relate to individual assessments and tax digest revisions made by the Commissioner pursuant to the Tax Administration Act (Code Ann. Ch. 92-84). They are not applicable to the Commissioner's denial of a liquor license pursuant to the liquor Act (Code Ann. Ch. 58-10). To interpret them so as to be applicable to liquor licenses is to apply them in a manner different than the General Assembly intended, as shown by the language of the sections and by the caption and history of the Tax Administration Act.
It follows that Rozier v. Redwine, 211 Ga. 208, 85 S.E.2d 34, supra, was not correctly decided and it is therefore overruled. It also follows that the Superior Court of Chatham County would not have jurisdiction in this case...
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