Dream Boat, Inc. v. Department of Revenue

921 So. 2d 1, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 4097, 2003 WL 1560175
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 27, 2003
DocketNo. 1D02-1253
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 921 So. 2d 1 (Dream Boat, Inc. v. Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dream Boat, Inc. v. Department of Revenue, 921 So. 2d 1, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 4097, 2003 WL 1560175 (Fla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

HAWKES, J.

Appellant, Dream Boat, Inc., appeals a final order of summary judgment upholding the imposition of a use tax plus penalties and interest. We affirm.

The Department of Revenue (DOR) conducted an audit of Appellant and imposed a use tax, as well as penalties and interest, on oral slot machine license agreements, pursuant to section 212.05, Florida Statutes (1999). Appellant challenged the tax and later moved for summary judgment. After the trial court found the parties stipulated at the hearing on the motion for summary judgment that no disputed issues of material fact remained, it rejected Appellant’s arguments and found DOR entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. Appellant contends on appeal that disputed issues of material fact remain as to the penalty imposed. However, because the record on appeal does not contain a transcript of the hearing, we have no basis for rejecting the trial court’s finding. See Applegate v. Barnett Bank of Tallahassee, 377 So.2d 1150 (Fla.1979). We address Appellant’s remaining issues based on the facts found by the trial court to be undisputed.

I

Appellant, a Florida corporation, owns several vessels which are set up for casino gambling with slot machines and other gambling equipment. The gambling equipment was purchased and installed in Florida and, when not at sea, the vessels are docked in Florida ports. Appellant charters these vessels to other Florida companies who take passengers on “cruises to nowhere” for the purpose of gambling. In addition to the bare boat charters, Appellant enters into separate oral license agreements with cruise operators that allow them to operate the slot machines once the vessels have crossed the three-mile boundary of Florida’s territorial waters.1 Although the vessels leave Florida’s territorial waters, they do not enter any other state’s territory or leave the United States of America. Upon reaching their destination, beyond the three-mile Florida boundary, the casinos are opened and the slot machines are operated. Upon the conclusion of the gaming activities, the slot machines are closed and the vessels return to the same ports from which they departed.

II

Appellant argues the separate oral license agreements were not subject to any tax because the slot machines were not used within Florida. See § 212.05, Fla. Stat. (1999). The trial court properly rejected this argument. The oral licensing agreements occurred in Florida, and the slot machines were used in Flori[3]*3da, as “use” is defined by section 212.02(20), Florida Statutes (1999). That section broadly defines “use” as “in-clud[ing] the exercise of any right or power over tangible personal property incident” to any interest in the property. Id. Clearly, Appellant exercises power over the slot machines in Florida.2 Accordingly, DOR properly determined Appellant’s rental of the slot machines to the cruise operators was subject to taxation.

Ill

Appellant also argues it was entitled to a partial tax exemption under section 212.08(8), Florida Statutes (1999), which provides for a proration of taxes for “vessels engaged in interstate or foreign commerce.” Section 212.08(8)(a) provides in part:

The sale or use of vessels and parts thereof used to transport persons or property in interstate or foreign commerce, including commercial fishing vessels, is subject to the taxes imposed in this chapter only to the extent provided herein.... Vessels and parts thereof used exclusively in intrastate commerce do not qualify for the proration of tax. (emphasis added).

The rule is that any claim of exemption from taxation is to be narrowly construed against the party seeking the exemption. See Volusia County v. Daytona Beach Racing & Recreational Facilities Dist., 341 So.2d 498 (Fla.1976), appeal dismissed, 434 U.S. 804, 98 S.Ct. 32, 54 L.Ed.2d 61 (1977). Our state’s Supreme Court has recognized one person’s tax exemption becomes another’s tax. See Redford v. Dep’t of Revenue, 478 So.2d 808 (Fla.1985). In order to qualify for this exemption it must be found that: 1) the tangible personal property located on Appellant’s vessels, in this case the slot machines, are parts used to transport persons or property, and 2) the transportation of persons or property must be in interstate or foreign commerce.

Appellant cannot show its vessels are engaged in interstate or foreign commerce. Therefore we find it unnecessary to reach the question of whether slot machines are “parts thereof’ that would qualify for the partial exemption of section 212.08(8)(a). The vessels never enter any other state’s waters, and Appellant conceded at oral argument its vessels did not engage in interstate commerce. Thus, the question then becomes whether the vessels transport persons or property in foreign commerce. We find they do not.

Commerce with foreign nations means “every species of commercial intercourse between the United States and foreign nations.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 22 U.S. 1, 193, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824). Commerce “among the several states,” i.e., interstate commerce, is “commerce which concerns more States than one.” Id. at 194. Thus, “foreign commerce” would be commerce which concerns more than one nation. See, e.g., Lord v. Steamship Co., 102 U.S. 541, 26 L.Ed. 224 (1880).

In the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Congress adopted Presidential Proclamation 5928 of December 27, 1988, which extended U.S. territorial seas to 12 nautical miles. Thus, because of this Congressional act and in accordance with international law and treaties, U.S. territorial waters now extend 12 nautical miles. AEDPA did not alter the three-mile rule for gambling cruises under the Gambling Ship Act. See United States v. One Big Six Wheel, 166 [4]*4F.3d 498 (2d Cir.1999). However, this means only that Appellant’s activities are not in violation of federal law.

Appellant relies heavily on Lord to support its argument that it engages in foreign commerce. However, we find that reliance misplaced. In Lord, the issue was whether a vessel that traveled on the “high seas” from San Francisco to San Diego concerned solely intrastate activity. However, because the trip “could not be performed except by going not only out of California, but out of the United States as well,” it had to be considered foreign commerce or “commerce with foreign nations.” Id. at 544 (emphasis added). The Court reasoned:

The Pacific Ocean belongs to no one nation, but is the common property of all. When, therefore, the Ventura went out from San Francisco or San Diego on her several voyages, she entered on a navigation which was necessarily connected with other nations. While on the ocean her national character only was recognized, and she was subject to such laws as the commercial nations of the world had, by usage or otherwise, agreed on for the government of the vehicles of commerce occupying this common property of all mankind. She was navigating among the vessels of other nations and was treated by them as belonging to the country whose flag she carried. True, she was not trading with them, but she was navigating with them, and consequently with them was engaged in commerce.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

CASSIDY S. MILLER v. ALEX V. MITCHELL
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2021
Deerbrooke Invest. v. Florida Dept. of Rev.
914 So. 2d 949 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
Dream Boat, Inc. v. Florida Department of Revenue
911 So. 2d 80 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
Dept. of Rev. v. New Sea Escape Cruises
894 So. 2d 954 (Supreme Court of Florida, 2005)
Deerbrooke Investments, Inc. v. Florida Dept. of Revenue
861 So. 2d 447 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
921 So. 2d 1, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 4097, 2003 WL 1560175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dream-boat-inc-v-department-of-revenue-fladistctapp-2003.