Court Opinion

ID: 9849135
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:35:10.069222+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:01.945129
License: Public Domain

Nichols, Presiding Judge,
dissenting. While the Supreme *25Court, after the grant of the writ of certiorari in this case, held that the petition set forth a cause of action and that the plaintiff did not have to negative a possible defense, it did not hold that the construction placed by this court on the language of the General Assembly in the Sales and Use Tax Act (Ga. L. 1951, p. 360; Code Ann. Ch. 92-34a), as amended, as to the necessity of the plaintiff to have fully complied with such act before a recovery could be had against the defendant was error. When the case was tried upon stipulated facts it was stipulated that the plaintiff did not collect the tax as required by Code Ann. § 92-3405a, nor did it file any return as required by Code Ann. § 92-3424a. Accordingly, unless the mere payment of the tax exonerated the plaintiff and is deemed a full compliance with the requirements of the act, the plaintiff did not show a full compliance, and the plaintiff was not entitled to recover.
The majority opinion takes the position that the act does not mean what it plainly says. No interpretation is permitted, or should be indulged in, when a statute is plain and unambiguous. The section of the act dealt with in the third division of the majority opinion plainly states: “No action either in law or equity on a sale or transaction as provided by the terms of this chapter may be had in this State by any such dealer unless it be affirmatively shown that the provisions of the chapter have been fully complied with.”
In support of the majority opinion it is contended that an interpretation which permits an action to be brought for the amount of the tax when the plaintiff has failed or refused to comply timely with the terms of the act was the legislative intent. Such contention is untenable. The purpose of the act was not only the collection of the tax but a timely collection of the tax. The obligation to collect the tax is placed on the “dealer” (the plaintiff in the present case), by law and if he fails to collect such tax the responsiblity to pay the tax is still upon him and the State may proceed against him as a taxpayer. Williams v. Bear’s Den, Inc., 214 Ga. 240 (104 SE2d 230).
The majority opinion gives the dealer the option of collecting the tax or of selling at three percent less than his competitors with the same margin of profit with the knowledge that should the State force him at some future date to pay the tax he can *26proceed against the purchaser within four years after he has been forced to pay the tax and obtain a reimbursement of such money.
Such holding would effectively hinder a timely collection of the tax by the State and not, as contended by the majority, aid in the collection of such tax. What incentive is there to “Timely pay the tax,” or otherwise comply with the act, if the dealer knows he may wait until the State forces him to pay the tax and then, after belatedly paying the tax, sue the purchaser and recover all he has paid? None. On the contrary, if the dealer knows he must “timely” collect, report and pay the taxes on his sales or be barred from thereafter suing the purchaser to collect the same such dealer has a real incentive to comply fully with thé provisions of the act.
The act, as amended, removes the statute of limitation, in so far as the State is concerned, where a fraudulent or false return or no return is filed by the dealer (see Code Ann. § 92-3447a), and should the State proceed against the dealer twenty or more years after it has failed to collect the tax or make any report it could then, twenty-four or more years after the sale, sue the purchaser. The act does not provide for any such procedure but to the contrary provides that the dealer must fully comply with the terms of the act or forfeit its right to proceed against the purchaser.
The majority opinion has the effect of amending the words “fully complied with” in the section precluding action by dealers where full compliance has not been shown to read “tax has been paid.” The payment of the tax is not the prerequisite to the action but a full compliance with the act is. The act of 1951 (Ga. L. 1951, pp. 360, 374; Code Ann. § 92-3421a), provides that dealers may report on a “cash” or on an “accrual basis”, and where a dealer reports on a cash basis the payment of the tax on a credit sale is not required until the purchase price is collected, but a report is required on the cash sales made during such period and on the purchase price collected during such period on credit sales theretofore made. However, if the dealer reports on an accrual basis the payment of the tax together with the report must be made for the period during which the sale was made regardless of when the purchase price and tax are collected.
*27The judgment of the trial court was unauthorized by the evidence and should be reversed.
I am authorized to say that Judges Frankum and Jordan concur in this dissent.