CopyCited 11 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...The parties have asked us to determine whether an ad valorem tax on a leasehold interest of governmental property that is measured by income or volume of transactions assessed against an insurer or its agent by a local government is void, because this subject has been preempted by virtue of Section 624.520, Florida Statutes....
...airport to be $83,000.00. After losing an appeal on this determination to the Duval County Property Appraisal Adjustment Board, Tele-Trip filed suit in circuit court. The appellee's contention was that it was exempt from any ad valorem tax based on Section 624.520(1), Florida Statutes (1971), which states: 624.520 Preemption by state....
...ting the taxation of leasehold interests in real property, and Section
196.199(2), Florida Statutes, which provides an exemption from the taxation of leasehold interests in real property. See Laws of Florida, Chap. 71-133, §§ 11 and 16. Similarly, Section
624.520, Florida Statutes, was also created by transferring it from another section, as part of the 1971 statutory revision process....
...on. On appeal, Tele-Trip does not contend that it falls within this exception. The tax assessed against Tele-Trip is, therefore, not only proper; it is mandatory. In our opinion, a review of the grammar and punctuation utilized by the legislature in Section 624.520(1), Florida Statutes *972 (1971), seems to militate against the view advocated by Tele-Trip....
...The statute preempts the imposition of certain taxes and fees upon insurers and their agents. The list of taxes and fees includes "excise, privilege, franchise, income, license, permit, registration and similar taxes and fees, measured by premiums, income, or volume of transactions... ." § 624.520(1), Fla....
...ng and more confining terms." Halifax Area Council on Alcoholism v. City of Daytona Beach,
385 So.2d 184, 187 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Soverino v. State,
356 So.2d 269 (Fla. 1978). If the legislature had intended general words such as "similar taxes" in Section
624.520, Florida Statutes, to be used in an unrestricted sense, it would not have mentioned a specific class of taxes in the statute....
...But, if the tax is computed upon the valuation of the property, and assessed by assessors, either where it is situated or at the owner's domicile, although privileges may be included in the valuation, it is considered a property tax. Perhaps even more indicative of the legislature's intended scope of Section 624.520 is its usage of the word "preemption." Words of common usage, when used in a statute, should be construed in the plain and ordinary sense....
...e ability of an entity to possess and use that which is taken. Such a connotation is also consistent with examples given in Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed. 1979) as to how the word has been used in a legal context. Thus, the legislature, by enacting Section 624.520, cannot constitutionally "preempt" the counties from levying ad valorem taxation....
...eempt" that power because it is prohibited from exercising the power itself by virtue of Article VII, Section 1(a). Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the legislature intended to include ad valorem taxation within the species of taxes preempted by Section 624.520....
...Finally, if one looks at the appellant's use of the capitalization of Tele-Trip's assumed minimum income in preparing the leasehold interest's ad valorem tax assessment, it is apparent that such method of assessment has nothing to do with an income tax, or a tax measured by income, or the volume of transactions as defined in Section 624.520....
...den., on remand,
264 So.2d 120 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972); see also, Cassaday v. McKinney,
296 So.2d 94, 96 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974). The use of the minimum rent by the appellant in computing the assessment on Tele-Trip's leasehold interest is not inconsistent with Section
624.520, and it is entirely consistent with Section
193.011. Reversed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. BOOTH and JOANOS, JJ., concur. NOTES [1] The parties have at no time contended that Tele-Trip is not an "insurer" or an "agent" of an insurer within the meaning of Section
624.520(1), Florida Statutes (1971)....
...The record reveals that Tele-Trip is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company. [2] City of Opa-Locka, supra, involved Section 624.0318, Florida Statutes. It has since been repealed. The statute was the apparent predecessor to Section 624.520, Florida Statutes (1971). The wording of that statute was similar to Section 624.520, Florida Statutes.
