(Centre Square) – Local governments or lien holders will lose $8,950 from 2014 to 2021 under laws that allow them to seize property for unpaid property taxes, according to a new report. acquired over $860 million in assets.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, which is working to ban this practice, says that acquiring property to pay property tax liabilities can be disastrous for people with small tax liabilities. I discovered that there is
“For tax liabilities of less than 1% of the value of property, these laws allow officials to take homes that have been owned by families for generations, and even make people homeless. “and, report.
The report highlights several instances, including one in Michigan that robbed a man of his home for underpaying $8.41. Oakland County later sold the property for $24,500. The case eventually went to the Michigan Supreme Court, which found the practice unconstitutional.
The report found that “the elderly, the sick, the poor, mentally ill and racial minorities are particularly at risk.”
Twelve states and Washington, DC allow this practice. The states are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and South Dakota, according to the foundation.
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to take up the Minnesota case. Tyler v. Hennepin CountyThe SCOTUS blog focuses on whether buying and selling a home to pay off a debt to the government and keeping the surplus as a windfall violates the Fifth Amendment acquisition clause. .
“[Geraldine Tyler] “We didn’t pay property taxes. The outstanding property taxes were about $2,300,” said Christina Martin, senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation. Tyler owed $15,000.The county auctioned her condo, sold it for $40,000, and kept all $40,000.In other words, the county made a windfall profit of $25,000 at Tyler’s expense. It was.”
According to the Foundation’s report, 94-year-old Tyler isn’t alone.
The problem goes beyond the 8,950 homes identified in the report, said Angela Erickson, director of strategic research at the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is “just a fraction of the extent of home property theft in the nine states surveyed.” department”. Researchers collected information from only part of the jurisdiction and focused only on homes sold, she said.
“These laws don’t just take away family homes. They steal family nest eggs and generational wealth. And you instantly discover that you have no place to live, no safety net, no wealth to pass on to your children,” Erickson said. “It’s devastating. are ruining the lives of
