---
title: O.C.G.A. § 48-5-9. Persons liable for taxes on property.
collection: code
id: 48-5-9
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 48-5-9 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-9
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-9.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-9/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t48-ch1-6-(v36)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=2edc88a7_0#page=391
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-8.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-5-9.1.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: REVENUE AND TAXATION / AD VALOREM TAXATION OF PROPERTY / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 48-5-9. Persons liable for taxes on property.

Taxes shall be charged against the owner of property if the owner is known and against the specific property itself if the owner is not known. Life tenants and those who own and enjoy the property shall be chargeable with the taxes on the property.

## History

Civil Code 1895, § 778; Civil Code 1910, § 1018; Code 1933, § 92-110; Code 1933, § 91A-1021, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2.

## Law Reviews

For comment on Bell v. Summerlin, 188 Ga. 648, 4 S.E.2d 831 (1939), see 2 Ga. B. J. 54 (1940).

For comment on Townsend v. McIntosh, 205 Ga. 643, 54 S.E.2d 592 (1949), see 12 Ga. B. J. 205 (1949).

For article surveying developments in Georgia real property law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 219 (1981).

## History of Section.

This Code section is derived from the decisions in National Bank v. Danforth, 80 Ga. 55, 7 S.E. 546 (1887); Burns v. Lewis, 86 Ga. 591, 13 S.E. 123 (1891); Wells v. Mayor of Savannah, 87 Ga. 397, 13 S.E. 442 (1891); Wells v. Mayor of Savannah, 107 Ga. 1, 32 S.E. 669 (1899), aff’d, 181 U.S. 531, 21 S. Ct. 697, 45 L. Ed. 986 (1901).