Request By:
Mr. James I. Foley
Attorney at Law
Jefferson County Delinquent Tax Office
305 Republic Building
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
A question has arisen in Jefferson County as to whether a personal property tax lien filed under KRS 134.420 takes priority over other liens. It is your understanding that it does take priority and that a car with a personal property tax lien on it cannot be sold or transferred.
Under KRS 134.420 the state and each county, city or other taxing district shall have a lien on the property assessed for taxes due them for five (5) years following the date when the taxes became delinquent. The statute expressly provides that "This lien shall not be defeated by gift, devise, sale, alienation or any means whatever except by sale to a bona fide purchaser, but no purchase of property made before final settlement for taxes for a particular assessment date has been made by the sheriff shall preclude the lien covering such taxes." (Emphasis added). Elsewhere the statute provides that the lien shall have priority over any other obligation or liability for which the property is liable.
The lien is on the property assessed. Commonwealth v. J.B. Jellico Coal Co., 227 Ky. 273, 12 S.W.2d 698 (1929). And the five year lien period dates from the time the taxes become delinquent.
Under the provisions of KRS 134.420(1), the tax lien, to be effective, does not require any notice of or filing of the lien with the county
It is our opinion that a car with a personal property tax lien on it may be sold or otherwise alienated, subject to the tax lien, however, as described in the statute. First, there is no express statutory language prohibiting sale or transfer. Secondly, the provision that "this lien shall not be defeated by gift, devise, sale, alienation . . .", implicitly suggests that sale or alienation is not prohibited. "What is necessarily implied need not be expressly stated." National Surety Co. v. Commonwealth, 253 Ky. 607, 69 S.W.2d 1007 (1934) 1009.