178 Ga. 215 | Ga. | 1934
The Court of Appeals certified several questions in this case, one of which was as follows: '■“Does section 10 of the sales-tax act (Ga. L. 1929, p. 108) exempt baled cotton from the operation of the act only so long as it is in the producer’s hands in its original package, or does it also exempt such cotton in the purchaser’s hands, so long as it is in its original package or state?” We are of the opinion that the proper answer to this question is that the cotton is not only exempt so long as it is in the producer’s hands in its original package, but that it is also exempt while in the hands of a purchaser, “so long as it is in its original package or stateand it appearing from an examination of all of the questions that instructions to this effect will render answer to other questions unnecessary, bur decision will be limited accordingly.
The question quoted above involves a construction of the provision of the sales or gross-receipts tax act of August 29, 1929, exempting from its operation “labor, agricultural and horticultural societies, and products of farm, including live stoek, grove or garden, when sold directly by the producer or his authorized agent and so long as said farm products are handled and/or sold in their original packages, and/or in original state or condition of or preparation for sale.” Ga. L. 1929, pp. 103, 108, § 10. In the interpretation of an act of the General Assembly, all the language used must be taken into consideration and none of it should be disregarded unless it be wholly without.meaning or would lead to an
We have undertaken to answer the question propounded by the Court of Appeals with particular reference to the language employed in the question; and nothing said in this opinion is intended to decide whether the product must remain in its original package or state in order to be exempt as to sales by the producer or his authorized agent.
Answer in affirmative.