This woman owed $15,000 in property taxes on her condo. The government took her home and auctioned it off for $40,000 (a fraction of what it was worth). They kept all of the money, and not just what they were owed. She is suing, claiming that the overage was an unconstitutional taking. The case has made it all the way to SCOTUS. The state claims that the woman didn’t lose out because the mortgage and her HOA fees are cancelled under state law.
I agree that the woman is the victim of an unconstitutional taking without compensation. Whether or not her mortgage and HOA fees are still payable is a different issue, and doesn’t change the fact that the state took what was never theirs to take.
The article mentions a Detroit case where a homeowner lost a home due to owed taxes, the state auctioned it off for $1, and the winning bidder subsequently sold the home for over $300,000. The article then mentions that a SCOTUS ruling may force local governments to sell properties for their fair market value, and not simply auction them off for a fraction of what they are worth. I believe that they SHOULD be forced to sell for fair market value. After all, if I sell a home to myself or to an associate, the IRS will certainly force me to pay taxes on the capital gain at fair market value.
County and local governments complain that such a system would cripple local government property tax collection, but that is horse hockey. We don’t (or at least aren’t supposed to) determine the constitutionality of a law by how much money the government will lose on the deal.
Let’s see how this plays out.
6 Comments
Toastrider · April 27, 2023 at 7:25 am
“County and local governments complain that such a system would cripple local government property tax collection…”
And what a sad day that would be, eh?
Henry · April 27, 2023 at 9:54 am
Attorney Steve Lehto has an excellent utoob channel and posted videos about this and similar cases.
Big Ruckus D · April 27, 2023 at 10:28 am
Property taxes are theft, period. Being that public “schools” are the principal beneficiaries of property taxes in most jurisdictions, that is all the more reason to abolish the taxes, and in turn eliminate the schools. No one will ever truly own their home until this is addressed, they are merely renting it from a govt that is increasingly extortinate and dangerous.
Even in this era of parents taking umbrage at the depravity being taught as official policy by the public schools, nowhere in the pushback so far has the legitimate need for killing off of the schools, and the taxes that fund them, entered the conversation. This needs to happen not just for the benefit of getting rid of the confiscatory taxation, but for the welfare of children who are presently being systematically and intentionally ruined within these mind-raping prisons.
Of course most people will pooh-pooh the idea as impossible, with a whole list of whatabouts as justification for maintaining the status quo. They apparently have no vision, and no real concern over the fucking they are taking under the current arrangement. That is why they (and those of us not in agreement, but consigned to the unrepresented politicial minorty) keep losing.
Divemedic · April 27, 2023 at 12:53 pm
I mostly agree, although I think that property taxes are more akin to a protection racket than they are theft.
I also don’t think that publicly funded education is a good idea.
Powdered Toast Man · April 27, 2023 at 6:12 pm
Local condo sold for $12,000 and there is a CPUSA indoctrination center or school on the block.
The fundamental transformation proceeds and the surliness increases by the day.
I almost feel bad for those who thought there was some force field around exurbia.
Don Curton · April 28, 2023 at 7:51 am
I read where there’s a lot more to that story than just the simplistic OMG the govt took her property. This was a rental property, not her actual residence, and the issue with overdue taxed went on for years. She had multiple opportunities to either pay the taxes or sell the property herself but did nothing. So while I have issues with seizure, I don’t think her side of the story comes off very good either.
That said, I’d be more in favor of property taxes if we went back to the old ways where only property owners could vote and everyone else could fuck off.
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