A victory for the little folks in MN!
The Supreme Court ruled UNANIMOUSLY that Somaliland Minnesota overstepped its bounds when they ruled that Hennepin County, MN stole unlawfully withheld compensation after seizing now-94 Geraldine Tyler’s condo.
Tyler, who now lives in an apartment building for older people, owed $2,300 in unpaid taxes, plus interest and penalties totalling $15,000, when the county took title to the one-bedroom apartment in 2015. The county said she did nothing to hold onto her one-time residence. The apartment sold the next year.
Minnesota is among roughly a dozen states and the District of Columbia that allow local jurisdictions to keep the excess money, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a not-for-profit public interest law firm focused on property rights that represented Tyler at the Supreme Court.
At least 8,950 homes were sold because of unpaid taxes and the former owners received little or nothing in those states between 2014 and 2021, according to Pacific Legal.
The other states are: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and South Dakota, the group said.
Ignoring that penalties on unpaid taxes should never quintuple the original bill, in essence they seized her home, sold it to pay unpaid taxes, and kept the entire sales amount instead of merely satisfying the tax bill and giving her the balance of the proceeds. (Quick math says her original tax bill was on the order of 6% of the proceeds.) I see no problem with them chasing unpaid taxes – apparently she had lived in the condo since 1999, and then moved to a one bedroom apartment in a senior community and stopped paying taxes on the house. Fair enough – she should have taken steps to pay the taxes or unload the house. But taking ALL the money?
Glad to see this decision. Now I am looking forward to seeing a decision on civil asset forfeiture. Originally proposed as a tool against drug dealers, that has morphed into a multi-million dollar state theft ring in ‘way too many states. Think you are free? Look at that state list above, look at the higher profile civil asset forfeiture and eminent domain cases, and try to justify them. I can’t.
Category: None
Who sold the house/condo?
Who purchased it?
Who got the commission?
Who got to keep the equity?
My guess, all under the table kind of deals with connection “friends.”
From what I have seen before the seller tends to be the Sheriff’s Office as the main enforcement operation for the county who is the main taxing entity. They are sold in an auction format at the property. Money goes directly to the county assessors office. To be honest, this is the first I have heard where the prior “owner” was ever allowed any funds from the sale. I am originally from AZ myself.
This kind of situation is why I have told folks that they do not really own real estate property. It is the owner who gets to decide when to liquidate it. Fail to pay taxes and (IMO) the real owner steps up, confiscates the property and disposes of it with the full cooperation of the court system. When you buy a house and or land you are merely renting it paying a purchase price to the “seller” and rent (ie taxes) to the real owner. Do not pay that “rent” and you will be evicted.
Is progressive “social justice” concept for sharing of wealth too, comrade!
My house is in Louisiana. I closed on it in January 2009 and three years later got reassigned to Georgia. Instead of renting it out (aka, the smart thing to do), I opted to just make the mortgage payments and live cheaply off the remainder of BAH and base pay. Family lived in it for a while, then some of my neighbor’s family lived in it after over 80% of homes in the parish flooded in 2016. Anyway, I kept my Homestead Exemption because I viewed it as my primary residence despite being Active Duty and stationed elsewhere. In 2020 I got a certified letter mailed to the house I rented in Northern Virginia. When the neighbor’s family moved out a couple of years earlier the parish took notice. My neighbor looked after the house and kept the yard looking great and the premises nice, but I guess they saw that it looked vacant and yanked my Exemption a year or two previously. I had about a month to come up with something like $4500 or it would have gone to auction. Fortunately, my wife had just sold a flipper home, so we were good, but it was depressing knowing that the extent of effort seemed to be a short notice certified letter. No phone calls, other mailings, emails, or notice to my mortgage company that I’m aware of. Just like that, over 10 years of payments on a home I planned to retire to could have been wiped away, leaving me with no place of my own. I got the last laugh, so far. Since retiring down here I refiled the Exemption, then took my VA letter to the tax assessor to receive the complete tax exemption for having a 100% rating. I’m slowly learning the ins and outs of the VA, and recently got notice of “Clear and Unmistakable” errors that will drop two of my 20% ratings and bring me down to 93% Combined. I think this will drop me to 90% but have only been retired for 7 months and have plenty more to claim if… Read more »
Well, you certainly know how to game the system.
I wouldn’t call it “gaming the system”, though I respect your opinion. I’m new to this VA game. I call it a “game” because there are those who spend years trying to get legitimate claims recognized while others get paid for absolute bullshit. I’m learning to play the game but not trying to game the system.
My brother was in the Army for under six years, getting an OTH for Misconduct in early ’91. He got his discharge upgraded ten years ago and is now 80% Service Connected. Over 30 years of drugs and hard living are lumped into many of his claims. “Gaming the system”, in my opinion.
I spent 21 years in high-stress assignments and never shied away from challenges. Some injuries are physical, some are emotional. I’ve buried friends, watched helplessly as men died, powerless to do anything more than observe and report as RC-East Liaison, and had some “good” times in Baghdad 20 years ago that are still vibrant memories. Every assignment I had was filled with loss, from recruiting (a JROTC Instructor and a few students, including one who died in a Marine helicopter crash a few years ago), to Drill Sergeant (two Drills in my battalion deciding on a permanent solution), to over a thousand funerals and maybe a dozen Dover missions. Then there’s the arthritis, tendonitis, fasciitis, hernias, persistent cough, GERD, cardiovascular problems, and so on. Some of this self-inflicted, perhaps, as self-medication with alcohol was liberally administered from around 2006-upward, but hell, I’m only in my mid-40s.
Based solely on Army medical records, with my only VA-system appointments being those necessary to review the records, I was rated at 90% within a week of retirement and at 100% a few days later. Now, the VA is looking at potentially reducing it. If it’s fair, it’s fair. If I’m reduced, I’ll file more legitimate claims. If VA finds more “Clear and Unmistakable” errors in the future and I’m reduced to 30%, so be it. I’m ready to “play the game”.
To further clarify, I was also rated Permanent and Total. Summary research told me that further claims were risky and essentially useless. 100% P&T can’t get any higher and usually aren’t reduced. Clear and Unmistakable errors are a way to circumvent that P&T rating.
Back to the thread subject. No government should be able to seize a property and auction it off without any compensation to the homeowner. In my case, I was serving out-of-state and wasn’t making any money from my investment. My house was around $149k at closing, assessed around $200k at the time my Homestead Exemption was revoked, and I’d already paid some $120k towards it, mostly in interest thanks to how mortgages work, still owing some $125k. So, $120k of my money down the drain over $4500 in taxes that I was unaware of. My escrow account still paid the reduced taxes, but because I was unaware of the tax increase it would have been sold, even on the low side getting the parish $100k.
I don’t even want to know the relationship between mortgage company and government. Does the government pay the lien-holder the difference, or would I have been on the hook for the remaining $125k? I would think the former, but the latter is a scary thought.
If you are not on the hook for the $125K, the IRS will say this debt forgiveness is “income” for which you will be taxed.
True, the whole .gov scheme gets its money.
“on the hook for the $125K,”
You mean the unpaid balance of the mortgage? How is that “debt forgiveness”??
How is he a victim? He is presumably literate enough to be able to read and understand the mortgage terms, including interest rate. Didn’t the mortgage issuer give him a schedule showing how much of each payment went to interest and principal?
http://rpao.org/Home/HomesteadExemption
You are right—it’s not gaming the system, it’s tax fraud.
PS
And I suppose you were letting those other people live there rent free, eh?
Yes, I was. No rent collected, just helping family and friends out. They paid the utilities (most of the time–I’d get delinquent bill notices and pay on occasion). I kept the house because it’s my home. The Army sent me elsewhere, my home stayed down here.
“Every assignment I had was filled with loss,…”
As opposed to civilians, who never, ever lose friends, relatives, etc?
“Then there’s the arthritis, tendonitis…”
Again, as opposed to civilians, who never, ever suffer from those maladies?
BS
Stop whining. Life is tough for everybody. Those who don’t suffer those slings and arrows of outrageous fortune you mention are rare, indeed.
Yep, I whine. The butthurt can be strong in me, which is why I reply to anonymous strangers on these pages.
Point is, I filed claims consistent with those that many other Vets file. I’m new to the VA system, so I’m learning. Maybe some read my words and think I’m SFC Shammer McScumbag trying to game the system. Maybe some read them and learn something or know that they’re not alone in the morass that is the VA. Maybe some can offer advice or clarify things I’m unclear on, confuse, or inaccurately state. I haven’t played up injuries, haven’t filed false claims, and didn’t expect the rating I received. As for loss, most of my family has passed over the past ten years. You know who else is gone? At least six guys I served with over the course of 4 years in Alpha Company of The Old Guard. It’s a bit disproportionate given the fact that they were all in their 20s and 30s, but hey, I’m whining again, so let me stop.
I’m very possibly wrong, but it sounds like you envy the fact that I am taking advantage of benefits offered by our government for services rendered and paid for with blood, sweat and tears. To pull a pop culture reference out that may fit this rapidly declining conversation, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Anyway, thanks for your comments. I constantly reflect on myself and my doings and want to be the best person I can. If I rethink this VA thing and conclude that I’m really not in need of any benefits, I’ll do what I can to deny them. I’m sure that anonymous people on the internet will decide my guilt and shame me into the abyss. After all, life’s bitch and then you die.
As the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo vs. New London just paying your taxes is not enough. If you don’t pay enough taxes (rent) the true owner can give “your” property to someone who pays more taxes (rent).
But look at what happened (or more accurately, didn’t happen) to the land in that case.
I did. I hope the developers and their political hack friends lost a bunch of money.
Something similar almost happened in Baltimore Co., Md. a few years ago. The local governments (and their pals) tried to condemn lots of waterfront property as “blighted” so it could be developed. Didn’t work out, fortunately.
Etcetc.
Be carful you guys, about to sound like some Liberal, or something!!
(sorry, I had to. Liberalism is not a dirty… I agree with all y’all)
Now let’s see if our resident seagull comes in to make an ass of himself by defense of the state’s usurpations.
Carpetbagger/Scalawag/Bayonet Rule is alive and well…and NOT just in the Vanquished Southern States. The confiscation and selling off of the yeoman farmer’s property for back taxes that the dead Confederate’s Widow could not pay helped lead to the entire “sharecropping” system and economic bondage for millions. Property confiscation for a small amount of back taxes was a damyanky invention, much as were “Jim Crow” Laws.
All could have been avoided by paying folks to pick the cotton.
SOOOOO stealing this!
My home state tends to be as crooked as Chicago, and filled with just as many liberals.
Most of those live within the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs.
The rest are up in Duluth.
When you look at the state after the presidential elections, you’ll see a Pacific Ocean of Red counties, surrounding the blue islands of Minneapolis, St Paul, and Duluth. And every election cycle Minnesota goes to the Demoncrats.
This is why Virginia is a Purple state that is shifting Blue. Most of us native Virginians are Conservative by nature. Go to the mountains, Tidewater area, or Central VA outside of Richmond and you’ll find gun-loving Red-blooded Americans. The problem is that all of Northern VA is a suburb of DC. The Hampton Roads area is a microcosm of NOVA–lots of liberal-minded contractors and government workers bringing their politics and voting habits. Of the 95 counties, many are like Craig (population under 5000, almost all Republican), while only a relative handful of counties are like Loudoun (population over 400k) or Fairfax (pop. 1M+), filled with people following the money to DC and trying to turn their little slice of VA into California or Washington State.