§ 289. Proceedings to recover tax. Whenever any distributor shall fail to pay, within the time limited herein, any tax which he is required to pay under the provisions of this article, the attorney-general shall, upon the request of the department of taxation and finance, enforce payment of such tax by civil action in the supreme court, in the name of the people of the state, against such distributor for the amount of such tax, with interest. The proceeds of the judgment, if any, shall be paid to the department of taxation and finance.

Whenever any distributor shall fail to pay, within the time limited herein, any tax which he is required to pay under the provisions of this article, the tax commission may issue a warrant under its official seal, directed to the sheriff of any county of the state, commanding him to levy upon and sell the real and personal property of such distributor, found within his county, for the payment of the amount thereof, with the added penalties, interest and the cost of executing the warrant, and to return such warrant to the department of taxation and finance and to pay to it the money collected by virtue thereof within sixty days after the receipt of such warrant. The sheriff shall within five days after the receipt of the warrant, file with the clerk of his county a copy thereof, and thereupon the clerk shall enter in the judgment docket the name of the distributor mentioned in the warrant, and the amount of the tax, penalties and interest for which the warrant is issued and the date when such copy is filed, and thereupon the amount of such warrant so docketed shall become a lien upon the title to and interest in real and personal property of the distributor against whom the warrant is issued. Such lien shall not apply to personal property unless such warrant is also filed in the department of state. The said sheriff shall thereupon proceed upon the warrant in all respects, with like effect, and in the same manner prescribed by law in respect to executions issued against property upon judgments of a court of record, and shall be entitled to the same fees for his services in executing the warrant, to be collected in the same manner. In the discretion of the tax commission a warrant of like terms, force and effect may be issued and directed to any officer or employee of the department of taxation and finance, and in the execution thereof such officer or employee shall have all the powers conferred by law upon sheriffs, but shall be entitled to no fee or compensation in excess of actual expenses paid in the performance of such duty. Upon such filing of a copy of a warrant, the tax commission shall have the same remedies to enforce the claim for taxes, penalties and interest against the distributor as if the people of the state had recovered judgment against such distributor for the amount of the tax.