Osceola v. Florida Department of Revenue

705 F. Supp. 1552, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1556, 1989 WL 12472
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedFebruary 17, 1989
DocketNo. 88-6522-CIV-JAG
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 705 F. Supp. 1552 (Osceola v. Florida Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Osceola v. Florida Department of Revenue, 705 F. Supp. 1552, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1556, 1989 WL 12472 (S.D. Fla. 1989).

Opinion

ORDER

GONZALEZ, District Judge.

THIS CAUSE has come before the court upon the various motions in this cause. The defendants have moved to dismiss the complaint pursuant to Federal Rule 12(b)(1) and (6). The plaintiff has filed a response to the motion to dismiss which the court has received and considered.

The plaintiff has brought this action as an alleged class representative of all Florida’s Seminole Indians. The suit was filed by the plaintiff in her individual capacity [1553]*1553and not as an official representative of a recognized tribal government.

As stated by the plaintiff, this action was brought because of the “collection of sales taxes and franchise taxes from Petitioners by Respondent on Petitioner’s purchase of automobiles and other vehicles, mobile homes, goods and materials used to make improvements to their homes, telephone services, electrical service, propane gas service, and similar items that were purchased off the reservation but which were delivered or taken to Petitioner’s residence on the reservation.” See Memorandum in Support of Petitioner’s Response to Respondent’s Motion to Dismiss at 2. The complaint prays for declaratory relief, in-junctive relief against the defendant from future collection of these taxes, and damages in the form of a refund of tax payments erroneously assessed by the state between the years 1956 and the present day.

Defendants move to dismiss the complaint alleging that the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, and the Eleventh Amendment bar this action.

Section 1341 of Title 28 of the United States Code provides:

The district courts shall not enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy or collection of any tax under State law where a plain, speedy and efficient remedy may be had in the courts of such State.

The Tax Injunction Act manifests the maxim that a court should not act, in equity, when there is an adequate remedy at law. The statute also reflects the federal interest in comity between the national and state sovereigns. Because states rely upon taxation to carry on their governments, the federal sovereign, through its judiciary, is reluctant to interfere in this basic state function. See Tully v. Griffin, 429 U.S. 68, 73, 97 S.Ct. 219, 222, 50 L.Ed.2d 227 (1976); Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293, 297-99, 63 S.Ct. 1070, 1072-74, 87 L.Ed. 1407 (1943).

On its face, the Act bars injunctive relief. It has been judicially expanded to include suits for declaratory relief, California v. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. 393, 102 S.Ct. 2498, 73 L.Ed.2d 93 (1982); Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman, 319 U.S. 293, 63 S.Ct. 1070, 87 L.Ed. 1407 (1943). Moreover, the Act has been applied to actions for damages, Rosewell v. La-Salle National Bank, 450 U.S. 503, 101 S.Ct. 1221, 67 L.Ed.2d 464 (1981), reh’g denied, 451 U.S. 1011, 101 S.Ct. 2349, 68 L.Ed.2d 864 (1981); Fair Assessment in Real Estate v. McNary, 454 U.S. 100, 102 S.Ct. 177, 70 L.Ed.2d 271 (1981), including suits for the refund of tax assessments made by a state, Bland v. McHann, 463 F.2d 21 (5th Cir.1972); The Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes v. Montana, 568 F.Supp. 269 (D.Mont.1983).

The defendants allege that the Tax Injunction Act applies here because Florida provides a “plain, speedy and efficient remedy”. The Florida Constitution grants the state’s Circuit Courts with jurisdiction to hear challenges to any state tax. Fla. Const, art. V, § 20(c)(3). Florida courts are also given power to issue declaratory and injunctive relief in tax cases. See FLA. STAT.ANN. § 72.011 (West Supp.1988) and § 86.011 (West 1987).

A Florida taxpayer also has the statutory right to seek a tax refund from the state. FLA.STAT.ANN. § 215.26 (West 1971). The Florida Supreme Court has held that this statute authorizes the refund of taxes paid under an unconstitutional law. State ex rel. Hardaway Contracting Co. v. Lee, 155 Fla. 724, 21 So.2d 211 (1945) (refund authorized under subsection (l)(c) as a tax paid “in error”); cf. Aquarius Condominium Assoc. v. Markham, 442 So.2d 423 (Fla.App. 4th DCA 1983) (questioning whether a taxpayer can ever be denied his day in court to challenge a tax law).

The plaintiff does not allege that the state remedies are inadequate. Even if the plaintiff did take such a position, it would likely lack merit. See Winicki v. Mallard, 783 F.2d 1567, 1570 (11th Cir.1986) (noting district court’s ruling that Florida tax remedies were “plain, adequate and complete”); cf. Rosewell v. LaSalle National Bank, 450 U.S. 503, 101 S.Ct. 1221, 67 L.Ed.2d 464 (1981) (state refund procedure adequate un[1554]*1554der § 1341 despite two-year delay in receiving refund and failure of state to pay interest on the refund), reh’g denied, 451 U.S. 1011, 101 S.Ct. 2349, 68 L.Ed.2d 864 (1981).

Rather than attack the adequacy of the state remedies, the plaintiff contends that this court has jurisdiction under the instrumentality exception to the Tax Injunction Act. This doctrine states that the § 1341 jurisdictional bar does not apply to actions brought by the United States or one of its instrumentalities. The issue, then, is whether a class action by individual, enrolled members of an Indian tribe constitutes a federal instrumentality for purposes of immunity from state taxation.

The plaintiffs contention that this is a suit by a U.S. instrumentality is apparently based upon the historical trustee relationship existing between the federal government and the various Indian tribes. The test today of what or who constitutes an instrumentality is a question of Congressional intent. Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, 411 U.S. 145, 93 S.Ct. 1267, 36 L.Ed. 2d 114 (1973). Here, the test is whether Congress has designated the members of the Seminole Indian tribe as federal instru-mentalities.

The plaintiff relies upon Title 4 of the United States Code, sections 105 through 110 (known as the “Buck Act”) as evidence that Congress exempted the Seminole Indians from all state taxation. Specifically, the plaintiff points to section 109 which provides: “Nothing in sections 105 [state sales and use tax] and 106 [state income tax] of this title shall be deemed to authorize the levy or collection of any tax on or from any Indian not otherwise taxed.”

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705 F. Supp. 1552, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1556, 1989 WL 12472, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/osceola-v-florida-department-of-revenue-flsd-1989.