Opinion ID: 1200134
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Other Constitutional Provisions Which Require Repayment

Text: 9. There are also constitutional provisions which require the return of unconstitutionally assessed and collected taxes. The state cannot not deprive a person of property without due process of law. Georgia Constitution 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Par. I. The due-process clause extends to every proceeding which may be a deprivation of life, liberty, or property, whether the process be judicial or administrative or executive in its nature.[Cit.] Zachos v. Huiet, 195 Ga. 780, 786 (25 SE2d 806) (1943). The assesment and collection of taxes in the absence of a valid taxing statute constitutes such an unconstitutional deprivation of property. 10. One of the paramount duties of government is to protect the property of its taxpayers. Georgia Constitution 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Par. II. It is the duty of the State government, through the instrumentality of the courts, to protect the property of a citizen and his right to possess and control it. Irwin v. Willis, 202 Ga. 463, 477 (43 SE2d 691) (1947). This Court must protect taxpayers who have had property erroneously or illegally taken under the auspices of an unconstitutional taxing statute by requiring the state to refund such illegally-collected taxes. [12] The above constitutional provisions, all found in our Bill of Rights, were enacted to place limits on the government's and to protect the people from governmental abuses. The government's authority to tax is powerful. In fact, in 1819 Chief Justice Marshall said: That the power to tax involves the power to destroy ... [is a] proposition[] not to be denied. McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U. S. 316, 431 (1819). If this Court does not treat the unconstitutional statute as void from its inception, then nothing will deter the state from enacting other unconstitutional statutes and reaping the benefits therefrom. The constitutional mandate to declare the statute void, Ga. Constitution, 1983, Art. I, Sec. II, Par. V, is the taxpayer's protection from the power of the sovereign to destroy. McCulloch, id. This Court has placed a great deal of emphasis on the fact that the taxpayer in this case is a liquor company. It does not matter who the taxpayer is  a liquor company or an illegally taxed individual  the taxpayer is entitled to protection under the laws of this state. As former Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black said: Good men and bad men are entitled to trial and sentence in accordance with the law.