In this appeal, we revisit the question of the propriety and scope of subpoenas issued by a county board of tax assessors under OCGA § 48-5-300. See Fulton County Bd. of Tax Assessors v. Saks Fifth Avenue , 248 Ga. App. 836 547 SE2d 620 2001 physical precedent only; Eckerd Corp. v. Fayette County Bd. of Tax Assessors , 220 Ga. App. 454-455 1 469 SE2d 285 1996. East Gas, Inc., Sunbelt Ice, Inc., and their principal shareholder, George East, appeal the trial court’s finding of contempt with respect to their failure to provide the documents subpoenaed by the Johnson County Board of Tax Assessors. Finding that the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in granting the board’s petition for contempt, we affirm. This matter began when East Gas and Sunbelt Ice filed their personal property tax returns on April 7, 2000. With respect to Sunbelt Ice, the return is blank except for the taxpayer’s name and address, the owner’s signature, and a single figure in the space provided for the taxpayer’s returned value of “furniture/ fixtures/ machinery/ equipment: $50,000.”1 According to the chief appraiser for the board, “These forms ask many, many questions and they’re asking for detailed information. And what was received was a figure.” The head of the accounting firm hired to conduct audits for the board identified a complete personal property tax return form, a multiple-page form used for calculation of value based on the cost and depreciation of the major categories of personal property. The witness testified that if a taxpayer “were to get this form and skip everything and just stick a number right there,” the board would be unable to determine whether the final number was accurate. The chief appraiser for the county testified that, based on the incomplete return on the personal property, “there was no way of knowing whether it had been valued properly or not.”
In March 2002, the board sent audit letters to East Gas and Sunbelt Ice concerning their 2000 and 2001 personal property tax returns, requesting that various enumerated business records be made available for inspection. The chief appraiser testified that the county was seeking to review the personal property valuation in accordance with the requirements of the state revenue department that personal property be revalued every three years. In early April, the auditor began calling the taxpayer to schedule an appointment but was unable to set up a meeting. In June, the county sent a follow-up letter again listing the documents requested. A subpoena followed on August 20, directing East Gas and Sunbelt Ice to appear at the board’s office at 10:00 a.m. on September 9, 2002, bringing the same documents requested in the earlier letters, “to be considered as evidence by the said Board of Tax Assessors in a matter there pending between the Johnson County Board of Tax Assessors and East Gas, Inc. and Sunbelt Ice, Inc., Johnson County personal property accounts #2490 and #3850.” While the taxpayers apparently sent a letter to the board on September 6, 2002, asserting that the subpoena “violated these companies’ constitutional rights,” that letter appears nowhere in the record. The taxpayers did not respond to the subpoena, and this petition for contempt followed. After a hearing, the trial court issued an order finding that the taxpayers and their principal shareholder “failed to provide the requested information which Plaintiff is entitled and authorized to receive to assess taxes. The process used by the Board of Tax Assessors complied with Georgia law and did not violate the Defendants’ constitutional rights. Therefore, Defendants are in willful contempt.”
