Judges: Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General
Filed Date: 11/19/1997
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
The Honorable Bill Fussell Lee County Tax Collector Post Office Box 850 Fort Myers, Florida 33902
Dear Mr. Fussell:
You ask substantially the following question:
May an individual or entity who has possession of the property of a delinquent taxpayer, and who has been served with a tax warrant pursuant to section
In sum:
Section
Section
The tax collector must then file a petition in the circuit court for the county in which the tax collector serves seeking an order ratifying and confirming the issuance of the warrants and directing the tax collector to levy upon and seize the tangible personal property of the delinquent taxpayer in order to satisfy the unpaid taxes.2 A hearing before the circuit court is held, at which the tax collector or his or her deputy testifies that the personal property taxes listed in the petition are unpaid.3 Upon finding that the taxes are unpaid, the court may enter an order directing the tax collector to levy upon and seize sufficient tangible personal property to satisfy the unpaid taxes, costs, interest, attorney's fees and other charges.4 The statute further recognizes that "[t]he court shall retain jurisdiction over the matters raised in the petition to hear such objections of taxpayers to the levy and seizure of their tangible personal property as may be warranted under the statutes and laws of the state."5
Section
"A tax warrant issued by the tax collector for the collection of tangible personal property taxes shall, after the court has issued its order as set forth in subsection (6), have the same force as a writ of garnishment upon any person who has any goods, moneys, chattels, or effects of the delinquent taxpayer in his or her hands, possession, or control or who is indebted to such delinquent taxpayer."
The statute gives a tax warrant the same force as a writ of garnishment, but in no way makes it a writ of garnishment or requires the use of the garnishment procedures in Chapter
Section
Service of a writ of garnishment "shall make garnishee liable for all debts due by him or her to defendant and for any tangible or intangible personal property of defendant in the garnishee's possession or control at the time of the service of the writ or at any time between the service and the time of the garnishee's answer."7
The garnishment statute, therefore, imposes a duty on the garnishee to answer the writ of garnishment within a specific time period and makes the garnishee liable for all debts the garnishee owes to the defendant and all tangible and intangible personal property of the defendant in the possession of the garnishee. It operates in much the same manner as section
Section
"When any tax warrant is levied upon any debtor or person holding property of the taxpayer, the debtor or person shall pay the debt or deliver the property of the delinquent taxpayer to the tax collector levying the warrant, and the receipt of the tax collector shall be complete discharge to that extent of the debtor or person holding the property. The tax collector shall make note of the levy upon the tax warrant."
The plain language of the statute directs a debtor or person holding the property of a delinquent taxpayer to pay the debt or deliver the property to the tax collector, thereby relieving the debtor or person holding the property of the liability owed to the delinquent taxpayer. There is no requirement that the individual levied with a tax warrant serve an answer upon the tax collector, nor does the statute authorize the individual to utilize the garnishment procedures to seek attorney's fees for responding to a tax warrant. Where the Legislature has directed the manner in which a thing is to be accomplished, it is generally understood to mean that no other method may be employed.8
Accordingly, it is my opinion that section
Sincerely,
Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General
RAB/tgk