27-55-551 - Commission to institute proceedings; sequestration; lien; seizure.
§ 27-55-551. Commission to institute proceedings; sequestration; lien; seizure.
The commission is hereby authorized and empowered to institute legal proceedings for any and all violations of this article, to recover taxes, damages or penalties due under this article. All taxes and damages recovered in any proceedings by the commission shall be paid over and disposed of as any and all other special fuel taxes are required to be. Any chancellor or judge authorized to grant remedial writs shall grant writs of sequestration for the impounding of special fuel on which the excise tax or penalty is owed. Before any writ of sequestration shall be issued under this section, the complainant shall make an affidavit showing that it had good cause to believe, and does believe, that there is an excise tax or penalty owed the State of Mississippi on the special fuel sought to be sequestered and that unless said special fuel is sequestered and impounded, said special fuel will be removed, concealed, or disposed of. Upon such affidavit being presented to any chancellor or judge authorized to grant remedial writs, said chancellor or judge shall order said writ to be issued upon the filing of a bill of complaint for the collection of the excise tax on said special fuel. The writ of sequestration shall then be issued and the property dealt with in the manner now provided by law for other writs of sequestration. Where the State of Mississippi is the complainant, no bond shall be required of said state for the issuance of said writ of sequestration.
The State of Mississippi shall have a lien upon all of the property of every distributor or person acting as a distributor of special fuel without a permit, used in the operation of his business as such distributor, for the excise taxes levied by this article and due or to become due the State of Mississippi. Such liens or encumbrances of whatever character shall be paramount to private liens and to the rights of any holder of the legal title in or to any pumps, tanks, inventories of special fuel and other petroleum products, motor vehicles, or other personal property used in the operation of said business.
The commission shall have the right, when taxes due the State of Mississippi are delinquent under this article, or where any person acting as a distributor of special fuel without a permit receives special fuel in this state without paying the tax thereon, to cause a writ of summons and seizure to issue, returnable to the court having jurisdiction thereof, in like manner as such writs are authorized to be issued by Chapter 7 of Title 85, Mississippi Code of 1972. Such writ shall be directed to the proper officer or to the commission commanding the officer or the commission, as the case may be, to seize the property upon which a lien exists as hereinabove provided. After the issuance of such writ, such actions and proceedings shall be had on such writ as presently provided for the enforcement of purchase money security interests by the statutes of this state. The commission shall have the right to stop and hold any moving or movable equipment subject to seizure pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph pending the issuance of process.
It is expressly provided that the remedies set out in the foregoing paragraph shall be cumulative and that no action taken by the commission shall be construed to be an election on the part of this state or any of its officers to pursue any remedy hereunder to the exclusion of any other remedy for which provision is made in this article.
Sources: Laws, 1999, ch. 461, § 26, eff from and after July 1, 1999.