AGO 1949-51 No. 147.

• Case Date: October 21, 1949
• Court: Washington

Washington Attorney General Opinions 1949. AGO 1949-51 No. 147. October 21, 1949[Orig. Op. Page 1]PRIVATEJEOPARDY DISTRAINT - EXTINGUISHMENT OF LIENS.(1) Jeopardy distraint is appropriate for enforcement of a personal property tax lien where the property is about to be acquired by a P.U.D.(2) Acquisition of property by the state or a political subdivision thereof should extinguish tax liens, regardless of the manner in which title is acquired.Honorable A. C. Grady Prosecuting Attorney Jefferson County Port Townsend, WashingtonCite as: AGO 1949-51 No. 147Dear Sir: You have requested the opinion of this office concerning the following question: Is the remedy of jeopardy distraint available where personal property encumbered by a tax lien is about to be sold by a PRIVATE power company to a public utility district? Our conclusion may be summarized as follows: The remedy of jeopardy distraint is appropriate for enforcement of the lien of personal property taxes under the circumstances presented. ANALYSIS Puget Sound Power and Light Company is about to sell to a public utility district certain of its personal property upon which [Orig. Op. Page 2] a personal property tax lien has attached. It is our understanding that the Tax Commission has informally taken the position that where a tax lien might be extinguished upon acquisition of the encumbered property by the state or a governmental unit thereof, collection of the taxes may properly be enforced by jeopardy distraint authorized by section 43, chapter 206, Laws of 1939 (Rem. Rev. Stat. 11250). We feel that the view adopted by the Tax Commission is well founded. Rem. Rev. Stat. 11250, supra, provides in part as follows: "Whenever in the judgment of the assessor or the county treasurer personal property is being removed or is about to be removed without the limits of the state, or is being dissipated or about to be dissipated, the treasurer shall immediately prepare papers in distraint, * * *" The obvious intent of this statute was to provide a remedy by which a tax lien could be enforced where the property against which the lien exists is being or is about to be so scattered or disbursed as to make collection of the tax impossible, or, at best, problematical by the usual enforcement procedure. Thus, if property is about to be transferred to a public body under such circumstances as will result in a destruction of the tax lien upon that property, then the property is about to be disbursed or "dissipated" so as to prejudice enforcement of the tax lien by the normal procedure and the remedy of jeopardy distraint permitted by section 11250, supra, should be available. This brings us to the question of whether acquisition of personal property by a public utility district will result in an extinguishment of the lien of personal property taxes thereon. The broader question as to the effect of acquisition of property by the state, or a political subdivision thereof, on a...