Posted on 10/19/2009 7:20:24 PM PDT by Saundra Duffy
Unpaid property taxes have put control of more than 150 homes in a polygamous community in jeopardy and more may soon be at risk -- part of a growing financial crisis that has reignited a rift between sect members and a court-appointed overseer.
Investment interests in 35 large, communal properties that are part of the United Effort Plan Trust were auctioned in a Mohave County tax lien certificate sale in February. The sale was triggered after about $124,000 of the $1.2 million total tax bill in Colorado City went unpaid in 2007.
The move means those who picked up the liens will be able to foreclose on the properties in three years if the back-due taxes plus accrued interest charges are not paid. That tab had surpassed $148,910 as of August, according to the Mohave County Treasurer's Office.
The UEP Trust properties now saddled with the tax liens include homes, commercial and school buildings, vacant land and a 54-acre site that features a community park and a zoo.
The trust, created in 1942, holds virtually all property in the border-straddling towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, where most residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
"The trust has no money to address the tax problem, Wisan said Thursday. It is in debt about $3 million, money owed primary to Wisan and his attorneys."
Looks like the "accountant" the court put in charge of the Trust has plundered the FLDS and spit in their faces. He has run them in debt to the tune of $3 million owed to himself and his attorneys. Plus he did not keep up with the taxes. It's all a game to destroy the FLDS and steal their property.
I visited Colorado City last year and shopped in the local market. Most of the customers were dressed nineteenth-century style, the women in loose-fitting ankle-length dresses and the men in broad-brimmed hats and Western-style shirts.
It’s all a game to destroy the FLDS and steal their property.
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The FLDS dont own the property so how could it be stolen off them ???
If they had actually owned the houses nobody could have taken control of the buildings..
That consecration thingy doesnt seem to work too well...
What a mess. Besides, if they are going to approve poofer marriages, might as well allow polygamy.
They did not pay their property taxes. Sorry you don't pay you lose.
If you read the article, it sounds as though the fldsers couldn't agree on who owned what and did not pay.
Sorry, you don't pay you lose. That's how the game is played.
The “accountant” destroyed the Trust and now is owed $3 million for his efforts and those of his attorneys. The FLDS got royally screwed and the Constitution took a royal beating.
There is no private property. You pay rent or get evicted. They call it joint tenants for a reason.
So once again the greed of local government gets in the way of people who want to “own” property.
Property taxes - Like it or not and I don’t, they exist. Pay up or lose the property.
These people are no more or less victims than I or any other tax payer is a victim.
ANY tax on residential property is evil!
I wonder how long it will take for people to realize that they own nothing. We just rent it from the government. I have more ownership rights for my cars than I do "my" home.
That answer does not address that the fldsers did not pay their property taxes. That is their responsibility, not the accountant.
What I still find amusing, if not troubling, is that you continue to defend the fldsers and their abuse or women, children and property law.
Ok, then they did not pay the rent.
You don’t own your car either. Once you register it, it belongs to the state your live in. They then have the right to ticket it and tow it. Unless you have the original bill of lading you only have a “certificate of title” not title. If you want title to your private conveyance, buy your car out of state. Once you register it, it becomes a “vehicle” not a “private conveyance”.
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