Section 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.