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Although Florida ad valorem taxes and special assessments
are conceptually distinct, the Florida legislature contemplates
their joint collection.3 Florida statutory law, which governs
the collection of ad valorem taxes and the sale of tax
certificates, provides that special assessments may be collected
in the same manner as ad valorem property taxes. Fla. Stat. Ann.
sec. 197.363 (West 1989 & Supp. 1998). In order to be validly
collected in the same manner as ad valorem property taxes,
special assessments must be subjected to all collection
provisions of chapter 197, including, among others, the issuance
of tax certificates and tax deeds for nonpayment. Consequently,
an unpaid tax bill subject to sale of a tax certificate may
include both ad valorem taxes and special assessments.
II. Tax Certificates Not Issued by Florida or Political
Subdivision in the Exercise of Sovereign Borrowing Power
In Hernandez I, we held that interest earned on a Florida
tax certificate is not excluded from petitioner's gross income
under section 103. We held that a Florida tax certificate is
not an obligation of the State of Florida or a political
subdivision for purposes of section 103(c), because it is not
issued by a municipality as an exercise of its sovereign
borrowing power. Whether the interest earned on a Florida tax
3 See City of Boca Raton v. State, 595 So. 2d 25, 29 (Fla.
1992) (a legally imposed special assessment is not a tax and may
be imposed by a municipality without violating the Florida
Constitution's reservation of all taxation powers, other than ad
valorem taxes, to the State).
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Last modified: May 25, 2011