Zapo v. Gilreath

779 So. 2d 651, 2001 WL 256189
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 16, 2001
Docket5D00-1888
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 779 So. 2d 651 (Zapo v. Gilreath) 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
Zapo v. Gilreath, 779 So. 2d 651, 2001 WL 256189 (Fla. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

779 So.2d 651 (2001)

Richard R. ZAPO and Marion R. Zapo, et al., Appellants,
v.
Morgan GILREATH, Volusia County Property Appraiser, Bernard J. Kane, Volusia County Tax Collector, and L.H. Fuchs, Executive Director, Florida Department of Revenue, Appellees.

No. 5D00-1888.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

March 16, 2001.

*652 Guyte P. McCord, III and Gary M. Ketchum of McCord, Bubsey, Ketchum & Donohue, L.L.P. of Tallahassee, for Appellants.

B. Jordan Stuart of Wood & Stuart, P.A., for Appellees, Morgan Gilreath and Bernard J. Kane.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Mark T. Aliff, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee for Appellee, Florida Department of Revenue.

ORFINGER, R.B., J.

Appellants own mobile homes and the real property to which their mobile homes *653 are affixed in Volusia County, Florida. Pursuant to section 193.075, Florida Statutes (1996), their mobile homes are subject to ad valorem taxation as real property. The same statute exempts mobile homes affixed to leased property from ad valorem taxes.

Appellants brought suit challenging the constitutionality of section 193.075. They contend that subjecting a mobile home to ad valorem taxation when the owner of such home also owns the real property to which the mobile home is permanently affixed, while exempting mobile homes affixed to leased real property from such taxes, violates article I, section 2 and article VII, section 1(b) of the Florida Constitution. The trial court found the challenged statute to be constitutional. We agree with the trial court and affirm.

BACKGROUND

We begin our analysis by recognizing that, subject to certain exceptions, article VII, section 4 of the Florida Constitution makes the Legislature responsible for passing laws that secure a just valuation of all property for ad valorem taxation.[1] Article VII, section 1(b) of the Florida Constitution exempts certain property from ad valorem taxation by providing:

Motor vehicles, boats, airplanes, trailers, trailer coaches and mobile homes, as defined by law, shall be subject to a license tax for their operation in the amounts and for the purposes prescribed by law, but shall not be subject to ad valorem taxes.

Article VII, section 1(b) does two things. First, it creates a class of property exempt from ad valorem taxes. Second, it authorizes the Legislature to define what constitutes a mobile home, airplane, boat, etc. Importantly, all property exempt from taxation under this provision share a common characteristic—mobility.

In its effort to implement both article VII, section 4 and article VII, section 1 of the Florida Constitution, the Legislature passed three statutes that we must consider. Section 320.01(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1996) provides:

"Mobile home" means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which is 8 body feet or more in width and which is built on an integral chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling when connected to the required utilities and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning and electrical systems contained therein.[2]

If our inquiry stopped there, Appellants would clearly be entitled to relief because their homes fit within this definition, thus allowing them to claim exemption from ad valorem taxation under article VII, section 1(b). However, we must consider the effect of section 320.015(1), Florida Statutes (1996) that provides:

A mobile home, as defined in s. 320.01(2), regardless of its actual use, shall be subject only to a license tax unless classified and taxed as real property. A mobile home is to be considered real property only when the owner of the mobile home is also the owner of the land on which the mobile home is situated and said mobile home is permanently affixed thereto.

Finally, section 193.075(1), Florida Statutes (1996) provides:

A mobile home shall be taxed as real property if the owner of the mobile home is also the owner of the land on which the mobile home is permanently affixed. A mobile home shall be considered permanently affixed if it is tied down and connected to the normal and usual utilities.[3]

*654 THE STANDARD OF REVIEW

In considering the constitutionality of these statutes, we observe the basic rule of statutory construction that statutes which relate to the same or closely related subject or object are regarded as in pari materia and must be construed together and compared with each other. Ferguson v. State, 377 So.2d 709, 711 (Fla.1979); Alachua County v. Powers, 351 So.2d 32, 40 (Fla.1977). The doctrine of in pari materia requires courts to construe related statutes together so that they illuminate each other and are harmonized. Singleton v. Larson, 46 So.2d 186 (Fla.1950). This rule requires us to construe sections 193.075(1), 320.01(2)(a) and 320.015(1) together and to harmonize them, if possible.

A trial court decision regarding the constitutionality of a statute is reviewed de novo because it presents a pure question of law. Dep't of Ins. v. Keys Title & Abstract Co., 741 So.2d 599, 601 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), rev. denied, 770 So.2d 158 (Fla.2000). However, there is a strong presumption that statutes are constitutionally valid. In re Estate of Caldwell, 247 So.2d 1, 3 (Fla.1971); Libertarian Party of Florida v. Smith, 660 So.2d 807, 807 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). We are obligated to interpret statutes in such a manner as to uphold their constitutionality if it is reasonably possible to do so. Capital City Country Club v. Tucker, 613 So.2d 448, 452 (Fla.1993).

ARTICLE I, SECTION 2 (THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAIM)

Whether a mobile home is subject to ad valorem, taxation as real property depends on whether the owner of the mobile home also owns the land upon which the mobile home is permanently affixed. § 193.075(1), Fla. Stat. (1996). Appellants claim that this distinction violates the equal protection clause found in article I, section 2 of the Florida Constitution.[4] We must, therefore, decide whether the Legislature may subject one class of mobile home owners (those who own the real property underneath their mobile homes) to ad valorem taxes while exempting another class of mobile home owners (those who lease the land beneath their mobile homes) from such taxes.

The constitutionality of section 193.075 was first considered in Nordbeck v. Wilkinson, 529 So.2d 360 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988). There, the court held

[P]laintiff first contends that ad valorem taxation of his mobile home was improper in light of article VII, section 1(b) of the 1968 Florida Constitution which provides that "mobile homes, as defined by law, shall ... not be subject to ad valorem taxes." However, that contention overlooks the portion of article VII, section 1(b) which qualifies the term "mobile homes" by the phrase "as defined by law." The law, by virtue of section 320.015(1), Florida Statutes (1987), takes mobile homes which are permanently affixed to land owned by the mobile home owner out of the definition of mobile homes, as referred to in article VII, section 1(b) and puts them into the category of taxable real property.

Nordbeck, 529 So.2d at 361; see also Florida Manufactured Hous. Ass'n v. Dep't of Revenue, 642 So.2d 626, 627 (Fla.

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