'Both the Supreme Court’s precedents and early American history make clear that if a legislature entirely defines away a property right, the government has “taken” that property and must pay just compensation,' Thomas A. Berry and Isaiah McKinney write.
eraldine Tyler, age 94, owed Hennepin County $2,300 in unpaid property taxes on her Minnesota condominium. She eventually accrued another $12,700 in fees. Her local government then seized her condo and sold it to pay the taxes and fees. The condo sold for $40,000, and Tyler owed the county only $15,000. But the county didn’t return the excess $25,000 to Tyler. Instead, the county pocketed the excess equity in her home.
Unfortunately, Tyler is not alone. This theft‐like tax policy of seizing surplus equity occurs in 14 states, and it largely impacts the elderly and the poor—particularly those who own homes but have little discretionary income to pay their taxes. This type of tax law affronts our American sensibilities. It is a basic principle, carried over from English Law and Magna Carta, that governments can take no more in taxes than they are owed.
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