Home Theft
PJ Media,
by
John Stossel
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
5/4/2022 12:49:20 PM
Did you know that in some states, if you miss one tax payment, local politicians will take your home, sell it and keep all the profits?
Really.
Tawanda Hall was behind on her taxes. She was on a payment plan but had missed $900. She didn’t expect Southfield, Michigan, to take her entire house because of that. It was worth $286,000 more than what she owed.
“I’m still in shock,” says Tawanda Hall in my new video. “They took my whole house, my whole family’s livelihood.”
John Bursch, a lawyer for the county, says while this practice may sound unfair (yes, it sure does), “It’s also unfair to force those who pay their taxes
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Maggie2u 5/4/2022 1:11:23 PM (No. 1146436)
FTA...'John Bursch, a lawyer for the county, says while this practice may sound unfair (yes, it sure does), “It’s also unfair to force those who pay their taxes to subsidize those who don’t.”'
But by golly, we're going to tax you to pay the bill for pukes who cry and throw fits if we don't pay for their college tuition.
24 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Stencil 5/4/2022 1:12:30 PM (No. 1146438)
Agree on Stossel, for the most part. Particularly informative on matters personal property, civil liberties, and their ongoing impingements and out-right attacks on the parts of governments from the most local to the international.
18 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DVC 5/4/2022 1:13:24 PM (No. 1146439)
Looks like the politicians have discovered a new scam. At some point, you can't "fight city hall", but if the harm you enough - you can decide the the folks who did it should "be personally responsible".
Different people will have different interpretations of what that might mean.
15 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
rochow 5/4/2022 1:16:17 PM (No. 1146445)
Bursch, a liar, oh, lawyer, is very stupid. Why doesn't this jerk start by going after politicians who owe thousands? We can send him a list it will do for the rest of his life to go after those tax cheats!
11 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Rich323 5/4/2022 1:28:34 PM (No. 1146457)
Not in the Free State of Florida! Progressives stay the hell away from here! We don’t want your communist ideals ruining a true AMERICAN paradise!
17 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
navybrat 5/4/2022 1:38:40 PM (No. 1146471)
It is unfair to take the money from people who pay taxes and give illegal aliens hotel rooms, medical care, cell phones, food and transportation to the city of their choice.
25 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/4/2022 1:42:52 PM (No. 1146473)
How does one afford a home for $286K but can't afford the taxes? It's called budgeting, unless you live in a blue state where you are considered nothing more than an ATM machine like California, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York. You know the list.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 5/4/2022 1:46:08 PM (No. 1146479)
There should be a process to go through to get the back taxes that tries to avoid foreclosure. If the homeowner cannot pay, the house could be sold and the debt settled with any equity they had in the property. In today's market most homes can be sold pretty quickly and for a good price.
12 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 5/4/2022 1:55:50 PM (No. 1146487)
This is similar to civil forfeiture. Bring on a national sales tax on corn syrup.
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/4/2022 2:00:37 PM (No. 1146492)
Don't try to justify this theft. Most states put a lien on the property for the amount of the taxes.
18 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
snakeoil 5/4/2022 2:09:44 PM (No. 1146497)
Owe a small tract of land. Got a letter in the US Mail saying that my taxes for 2020 (two years ago) hadn't been paid, this was my fourth notice, and if I didn't pay within 4 days I'd be turned over to Da Judge. Problem is I didn't get notices 1 through 3. And notice 4, titled my last notice before I'd be turned over to the courts, was sent my US mail and it's a miracle I got it. Since 4 days isn't long enough to get a check through the mail, I paid by credit card and was changed a $ 12 "convince fee" for using a credit card. Wasn't happy about it. My credit card company is. Just be thankful you've still got your stuff and keep all you receipts.
14 people like this.
https://sriservices.com/
There is something amiss about the presentation by Stossel. The link above is an auction service that handles tax delinquency sales. A typical auction sale is for the amount of the tax delinquency as an opening bid and goes up from there. The owner of the delinquent property must be sent a certified letter with return receipt by the winning bidder of the transaction and the owner of the delinquent property has a year to pay the tax bill and give the winning bidder 10% of the amount of the delinquency. If this does not take place only then can the winning bidder petition the court for the award of a tax deed after sending a letter to the owner of the tax delinquent property of the court filing and advertising in the legal notices of the local paper of the intention to get the court to award the tax deed so that any interested party can take steps to clear up the matter. It is a long slow process with plenty of opportunities to pay the tax bill and stop the title transfer.
2 people like this.
When I first moved to Long Island many moons ago before I actually was elderly, this scam was going on here, the crooks would prevent the owner, usually elderly, from getting the notices and then buy the house out from under them for the amount owed. I don’t know what was changed but I don’t hear of it anymore. Since the I go to the town hall and pay in person and make sure it’s stamped ‘Paid’
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Venturer 5/4/2022 5:16:53 PM (No. 1146636)
She didn't pay her taxes. She worked a payment deal to avoid losing her home.
Then she didn't abide by the deal. What else did she expect? Another deal she wouldn't comply with?
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Mass Minority 5/4/2022 6:43:59 PM (No. 1146693)
@14, what folks are incensed about is not that she lost her home due to tax delinquency. She owed the money and the town was withing its rights to collect. What is egregious is that the town deides its owed 900 dollars so it take a home worth $250,000 and after they were paid the $900 they were owed, plus reasonable collection fees they turned the rest over to connected friends to use as they wished under the banner of "Community Servise". you can rest assured those friends who run said charitable community organization collect a nice salary for their altruism.
Taking the taxes and fees owed is proper, taking the Hundreds of Thousands left over is theft, plain and simple.
10 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
chumley 5/4/2022 9:10:18 PM (No. 1146799)
If the government can take it, you don't own it. If you dont own it, how can you owe taxes?
All taxes are criminal.
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
hershey 5/4/2022 10:17:01 PM (No. 1146831)
For $900?? Michigan is surely going down the poo hole....I hand deliver my payment to the drop box outside the County building with a SASE envelope inside for the receipt...don't even trust the PO to deliver anything anymore...what with 3 of my bill payments and a birthday card with a gift card getting lost within 2 months of each other...and have gone almost 100% to online bill payment...
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
franq 5/5/2022 6:01:15 AM (No. 1146944)
Similar to receiving bills 3 days before they are due. Often on a Friday. My wife put some of them on automatic draft, which is probably what the companies want anyway. You can't fight city hall. Question about living in a house of that value is pertinent. My coworker was fixing the bath in a rental property his mother owns. The tenants are 2 months behind. Yet there were two 60" plasma TVs, an Apple computer, and an expensive truck in the driveway. Hmmmm.
0 people like this.
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For a long time Stossel has been among a small group of journalists I trust. If he gets upset about something, we should pay attention.