Court Opinion

ID: 9569718
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:16:40.783788+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:49.190418
License: Public Domain

Judge ORR
dissenting.
The issue before this Court is whether a county’s or municipality’s ad valorem tax lien arising under the Machinery Act has priority over a docketed State tax lien on the same real property arising under the Revenue Act as a matter of law. While the majority presents a compelling argument to support plaintiffs’ position in this case, I must respectfully dissent on the grounds that the legislative language and intent is clear.
“The law governing statutory construction is well-settled. When the language of a statute is clear and without ambiguity, ‘there is no room for judicial construction,’ and the statute must be given effect in accordance with its plain and definite meaning.” Avco Financial Services v. Isbell, 67 N.C. App. 341, 343, 312 S.E.2d 707, 708 (1984). “Where words in a statute have not acquired a technical meaning, they must be construed in accordance with their common and ordinary meaning.” State v. Coker, 312 N.C. 432, 435, 323 S.E.2d 343, 346 (1984).
The purpose of the Machinery Act, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-271 to -395.1, “is to provide the machinery for the listing, appraisal, and assessment of property and the levy and collection of taxes on property by counties and municipalities.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-272. Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-355(a):
*121Regardless of the time at which liability for a tax for a given fiscal year may arise or the exact amount thereof be determined, the lien for taxes levied on a parcel of real property shall attach to the parcel taxed on the date as of which property is to be listed under G.S. 105-285 ....
(Emphasis added.) Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-285, “All property subject to ad valorem taxation shall be listed annually.” Under the Machinery Act, therefore, ad valorem tax liens attach to the parcel taxed on the date the property is listed, which property must be listed annually. Thus, on the date the property is listed, an ad valorem tax lien against the property arises by operation of law, and a taxing unit may bring a foreclosure action pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-374.
In order to determine the effect enforcement of ad valorem tax liens has on other liens on the property, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-356 sets out the priority of tax liens arising under the Machinery Act. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-356 states:
(a) On Real Property. —The lien of taxes imposed on real and personal property shall attach to real property at the time prescribed in G.S. 105-355(a). The priority of that lien shall be determined in accordance with the following rules:
(1) Subject to the provisions of the Revenue Act prescribing the priority of the lien for State taxes, the lien of taxes imposed under the provisions of this Subchapter shall be superior to all other liens, assessments, charges, rights, and claims of any and every kind in and to the real property to which the lien for taxes attaches regardless of the claimant and regardless of whether acquired prior or subsequent to the attachment of the lien for taxes.
(Emphasis added.) Thus, pursuant to the plain language of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-356, the rule of priority for ad valorem tax liens is that once an ad valorem tax lien arising under the Machinery Act attaches to real property, this lien has priority over all other liens on the real property, regardless of whether the other liens were acquired prior to or subsequent to the attachment of the ad valorem tax lien. This rule is, however, “subject to” the provisions of the Revenue Act prescribing priority of State tax liens.
*122N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-241 is the only provision of the Revenue Act which prescribes the priority of State tax liens. At the time of this action, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-241 stated:
State, county, and municipal taxes levied for any and all purposes pursuant to this Subchapter shall be for the fiscal year of the State in which they become due, except as otherwise provided, and the lien of such taxes shall attach annually to all real estate of the taxpayer within the State on the date that such taxes are due and payable ....
Provided, however, that the lien of State taxes shall not be enforceable as against bona fide purchasers for value, and as against duly recorded mortgages, deeds of-trust and other recorded specific liens, as to real estate, except upon docketing of a certificate of tax liability or a judgment in the office of the clerk of the superior court of the county wherein the real estate is situated, and as to personalty, except upon a levy upon such property under an execution or a tax warrant, and the priority of the State’s tax lien against property in the hands of bona fide purchasers for value, and as against duly recorded mortgages, deeds of trust and other recorded specific liens, shall be determined by reference to the date and time of docketing of judgment or certificate of tax liability or the levy under execution or tax warrant.
(Emphasis added.) (Amendment effective 1 August 1993 rewrote this statute.) As to priority solely over other liens, by the plain language of N.C. Gen Stat. § 105-241, at the time of this action, the Revenue Act gave docketed State tax liens priority over “duly recorded mortgages, deeds of trust and other recorded specific liens” that are recorded after the date and time the State tax lien was docketed.
Ad valorem tax liens are not classified as “deeds of trust” or “recorded mortgages.” Thus, in order to determine whether docketed State tax liens have priority over ad valorem tax liens it must be determined whether the Legislature intended to include ad valorem tax liens in the term “other recorded specific liens” under the Revenue Act. Ad valorem tax liens, as counsel for plaintiffs concedes, are specific liens; thus, the sole issue is whether the Legislature intended to classify ad valorem tax liens as “recorded” liens under the Revenue Act.
*123Black’s Law Dictionary defines “record”, “[t]o commit to writing,” “to make an official note of, to write, transcribe, or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving authentic evidence of...The American Heritage Dictionary defines “record”, “[t]o register or indicate.”
Chapter 105 of the General Statutes requires that each year, every county and tax-levying municipality prepare a record containing the total assessed value of each taxpayer’s real property listed for taxation and the ad valorem taxes due on such property. Pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-319 (1992):
(a) For each year there shall be prepared for each county and tax-levying municipality a scroll (showing, property valuations) and a tax book (showing the amount of taxes due) or a combined record (showing both property valuation and taxes due). . . .
(c) The tax records shall show at least the following information:
(4) The total assessed value of each taxpayer’s real . . . property listed for unit-wide purposes.
(5) The amount of ad valorem tax due by each taxpayer for unit-wide purposes.
(7) The total assessed value of each taxpayer’s real... property listed for taxation in any special district or subdivision of the unit.
(8) The amount of ad valorem tax due by each taxpayer to any special district or subdivision of the unit.
(Emphasis added.) Further, the “[c]ounty tax records shall be filed in the office of the assessor unless the board of county commissioners shall require them to be filed in some other public office of the county. City and town tax records shall be filed in some *124public office of the municipality designated by the governing body of the city or town.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-321(a) (1992) (emphasis added). Under this subchapter, “tax records” means “the scroll, tax book, and combined record.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-319(a) (1992).
Thus, although the ad valorem tax lien arises by operation of law, the county or municipality where the real property is listed must keep a yearly written record of the amount of ad valorem taxes due on such property, and this record must be filed with a public office so that the amount of ad valorem taxes due on the real property is public knowledge. The fact that the ad valorem tax lien arises by operation of law does not negate the fact that the amount of the lien is a matter of public record. I believe that this written indication of the ad . valorem tax due on the property is sufficient to classify these taxes as “recorded” taxes and that the Legislature intended for ad valorem tax liens to be classified as “other recorded specific liens.”
Further, if the Legislature did not intend to include ad valorem tax liens under the language, “other recorded specific liens,” then the language found in the Machinery Act stating that the priority of ad valorem tax liens is “subject to” the provisions of the Revenue Act prescribing State tax lien priority would be “empty” in its application. “The presumption is that no part of a statute is mere surplusage, but each provision adds something which would not otherwise be included in its terms.” Domestic Elec. Service, Inc. v. City of Rocky Mount, 285 N.C. 135, 143, 203 S.E.2d 838, 843 (1974).
Thus, I would conclude that docketed State tax liens have priority over ad valorem tax liens that attach to the property subsequent to the date of docketing of the State tax lien. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 105-241 (1992).
In the present case, NCDR’s lien is a docketed State tax lien arising under the Revenue Act, and plaintiffs’ lien at issue is for ad valorem taxes due on the same property attaching after the date NCDR’s lien was docketed. I would conclude that NCDR’s duly docketed State tax lien has priority over the ad valorem taxes that attached to the property subsequent to the docketing of NCDR’s lien as a matter of law.
While plaintiffs have ably argued, and the majority finds support for, the practical reasons sustaining plaintiffs’ position, including the practice over many years of giving the ad valorem *125tax liens priority, those arguments and changes should be addressed by the Legislature. Accordingly, I would reverse the order of the trial court granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment and remand this case for entry of judgment for the defendants.