Washington – Geraldine Tyler, now 94, lost her one-bedroom condo in Minneapolis to over $2,300 in unpaid taxes plus interest and penalties. Hennepin County sold the apartment for her $40,000 and kept every penny.

Tyler’s attorneys say the county violated constitutional protections against acquiring property without “just compensation” and excessive fines. supreme courtA decision will be made to hear the discussion on Wednesday.

According to the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represents Tyler in the Supreme Court, Minnesota is one of about a dozen states and the District of Columbia that allow local jurisdictions to hold surplus funds.

Between 2014 and 2021, at least 8,950 homes will be sold in these states due to unpaid taxes, according to Pacific Legal, a nonprofit public interest law firm focused on property rights. received little or nothing.

Other states are Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and South Dakota.

There was no explanation as to why Tyler stopped paying property taxes when he moved from the condo he’d lived in since 1999 to a senior-friendly apartment in 2010. Pacific Legal said she moved for her “her health and safety” reasons. .

In court documents, the county said Tyler could sell the property and keep whatever was left after paying off the mortgage and taxes, refinance the mortgage and pay taxes, or sign up for a tax plan. I said it’s possible.

Instead, she did nothing for five years until authorities sold the condo in accordance with state law, the county said. Acting as an agent, she sold the property on her behalf and demanded that a check be written for the difference between the tax liability and the fair market value.”

A lower court upheld the county before a judge agreed to step in.

Minnesota and several states and government entities have backed the county, warning that the Supreme Court’s ruling could tie the hands of local governments that rely on property taxes.

However, the majority of court filings are by Tyler, including AARP, business groups, real estate officials, and others who have had similar experiences to hers.

A Massachusetts man described an ongoing battle with authorities over a $900 tax bill on properties he said were worth at least $330,000 in the beachfront town of Cape Cod Bay. In a filing from New York, real estate tax attorney David Wilkes and the Legal Services Group said New York’s rules “take too much, far more than the government imposes, and tax is far more than an adequate deterrent to homeowners who ignore their delinquencies.”

The Biden administration told the court that Tyler’s allegation that her property was acquired without proper compensation and violated the Fifth Amendment was the strongest of her allegations. should dismiss claims that Minnesota’s laws violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines, writes Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger.

Until 2019, the Supreme Court did not rule on: “Excessive fines” clause It applies to federal as well as state governments.

Judgment in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, 22-166 is expected by late June.