Indeed it is. On the other hand why didn’t the property owner pay the tax?
>Indeed it is. On the other hand why didn’t the property owner pay the tax?
There could be several reasons:
1) Unforeseen injury.
2) Layoff / Unemployment.
3) Lost or delayed mail. ( See: Ruby Ridge )
4) Incorrect deadlines given. ( See: Ruby Ridge )
6) Mail Fraud/theft. ( Imagine HOA clandestinely removing any and all tax notifications from the recipient’s mail; imminently doable under the guise of “getting the mail for you,” especially if the tenant was elderly. )
Ever heard of being "land poor"?
Suppose a retired person on limited, fixed income has inherited a large piece of property (the old family farm) that no one will buy. The tax assessor slaps a huge tax on it -- far above his abiiity to pay.
What would you do if it were you?
Failure to pay property tax is about the one time that I could see a asset forfeiture being justified. The crime has already been committed, and they're not seizing the house because the house did something wrong, like the absurd way they justify the other forfeitures of unrelated goods; they're going to sell the house to get money you already owe them. I do think there should be some safeguards even then. They can't take it until the taxes have been late for a couple years running, so it can't just be a situation where the bill or the payment got lost in the mail. And there should be an independent assessment, with the surplus amount over the tax lien returned to the owner. Then there's no incentive to run a fake "auction" where your brother-in-law buys the place for $5,000 or something, unless the place really is a heap only worth $5,000.
thats not the other hand...the other hand is why the gov gets to screw the bank on the outstanding loan, just to get their $500...???