Court Opinion

ID: 9583497
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:39:14.498697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:02.923398
License: Public Domain

Weltner, Justice,
concurring.
I write only to suggest that, in my opinion, this case (and particularly Division 4) should not be considered as a proscription of all possible criminal sanctions for failure to pay taxes.
The provisions of OCGA § 48-7-2 (a) (1) make criminal the failure to pay income taxes — for any reason. Thus, included within its ambit is the citizen trapped within the toils of honest poverty, who, even through the best of effort and good faith, is unable to pay the tax.
A criminal provision drawn in terms of a “wilful failure” to pay tax would be an entirely different matter, as it would catch the intentional tax evader without at the same time ensnaring the hapless pauper.
*91Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General, Jeffrey L. Milsteen, amicus curiae.
Denmark Groover, for appellee.