Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, in an Official Opinion requested by Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, has said that the state owes local governments $18 million in unidentified sales taxes.

 

These funds were collected between January 1, 2008 and May 4, 2009 during a time that a state law had lapsed that allowed the state to distribute the unidentified sales tax revenues using a pro rata formula.

Attorney General Baker’s opinion indicates that the state is not authorized to retain local government taxes and that the state is obliged to return those funds back to the jurisdictions that imposed the tax.