Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 27 - TAXATION AND FINANCE (§§ 27-1-1 — 27-117-15) › Chapter 15 - STATEWIDE PRIVILEGE TAXES (§§ 27-15-1 — 27-15-251) › GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO CHAPTER (§§ 27-15-201 — 27-15-241) › Section 27-15-215 - Penalty for failure to procure license; collection of unpaid taxes

All persons liable for privilege taxes imposed by this chapter, who shall fail to procure the license therefor before beginning the business for which a privilege tax is required, or who shall fail to renew, during the month in which it is due, the license on a business for which he has theretofore procured a privilege license, shall in each or either instance, be liable for the amount of the tax required for such business and fifty percent (50%) thereof, and it is hereby made the duty of the commissioner, whose duty it is to collect the tax on such business, to collect the said tax and penalty; and the commissioner, or his duly authorized representative, may make immediate demand upon such dealer for the payment of all such taxes and penalties.
If any taxes and penalties found to be due are not paid on demand, the commissioner, whose duty it is to collect the tax on such business, may forthwith issue a warrant under official seal, directed to the sheriff of any county of the state, commanding him to levy upon and sell the real and personal property of the person owing the tax, found within his county, for the payment of the amount thereof, with added damages, penalties, and cost of entering and executing the warrant, and to return such warrant to the commissioner and pay to him money collected by virtue thereof, by a time to be therein specified, not more than sixty days from the date of the warrant. The sheriff shall, within five days after the receipt of the warrant, file with the circuit clerk of his county a copy thereof, and thereupon the circuit clerk shall enter in the judgment roll, in the column for judgment debtors, the name of the taxpayer mentioned in the warrant, and in appropriate columns, the amount of the tax, or portion thereof, and damages, for which the warrant is issued, and the date when such copy is filed; and thereupon the amount of such warrant or warrants so docketed shall become a lien upon the title to and interest in the real and personal property, including choses in action, of the person against whom it is issued, in the same manner as a judgment duly enrolled in the office of such clerk. The sheriff thereupon shall proceed upon the same in all respects with like effect, and in the same manner prescribed by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgment or attachment proceedings of a court of record; and shall be entitled to the same fee for his service in executing the warrant as now allowed by law for like service, to be collected in the same manner as provided by law for like service.
The commissioner shall endorse across the face of the license issued the words: "Collected as damages," showing the amount; and he shall account for all such penalties as he is required to account for privilege taxes collected under this chapter. In addition to the hereinabove described penalties, the delinquent taxpayer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to the penalties therefor.
Codes, 1942, § 9673; Laws, 1940, ch. 120; Laws, 1944, ch. 138, § 54; Laws, 1958, ch. 562, § 10, eff. 7/1/1958.