Supreme Court Wary of Windfall in Seizure of Condo for Unpaid Taxes
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed united on Wednesday, in the last scheduled argument of its current term, in its distaste for how county officials in Minnesota had treated a 94-year-old woman who had stopped paying property taxes on her condominium after moving into an assisted-living center.
By the time the county seized the property, the woman, Geraldine Tyler, owed about $2,000 in taxes and another $13,000 in penalties and interest. The county sold the condo at auction for $40,000, and it kept not only the $15,000 that all agree it was due but also the remaining $25,000.
Retaining the entire value of a confiscated property, even when the debts owed amounted to a small portion of it, is authorized by Minnesota law. According to the county’s brief, about 20 other states have similar procedures.
Christina M. Martin, a lawyer for Ms. Tyler, said the county had an obligation to repay the balance under the Constitution’s takings clause, which says that property cannot “be taken for public use, without just compensation.”
Source: The New York Times
