Posted on 07/27/2020 12:35:39 PM PDT by Hojczyk
The state’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that while Oakland County had the right to seize Rafaeli’s house to satisfy the tax debt and "any interest, penalties, and fees," it was not entitled to the full value of the home that it sold.
Defendants were required to return the surplus proceeds to plaintiffs, and defendants' failure to do so constituted a government taking under the Michigan Constitution entitling plaintiffs to just compensation," Justice Brian Zahra wrote in the 6-1 decision.
Oakland County commissioners sent an angry letter last week to Treasurer Andrew Meisner after the Michigan Supreme Court rebuked the county’s decision to seize one homeowner’s house after he underpaid his taxes by $8.41.
The commissioners said that they are forming a special investigative committee to look into the forfeiture practices and "make recommendations to protect the Oakland County taxpayers."
“It appears your actions as Treasurer to foreclose on an Oakland County retiree’s property for $8.41 has exposed the county to serious risk,” the July 21 letter to Meisner, signed by board Chairman David Woodward and commissioners Mike Gingell and Helen Zack, said, according to the Detroit News.
Meisner did not immediately return Fox News' request for comment.
The Michigan Supreme Court’s rebuke centers on the case of Uri Rafaeli, a retiree in his 80s whose 1,500-square-foot house in the Detroit suburb of Southfield was seized in 2014 and then sold for $24,500, with the county keeping all the earnings.
While Rafaeli’s case was stunning at the time, it is hardly unique: more than 100,000 homeowners in the state have fallen victim to an aggressive property tax law that legislators in Lansing passed two decades ago. Similar statutes have been passed in more than a dozen other states.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The US is not a norman rockwell painting. It’s more like the old USSR in many ways.
Antifa should visit Meisner and the Commissioners. That’d be fun.
Older folks especially with symptoms of dementia often ignore their property tax bill and warning letters and end up losing their property.
It’s really sad and not all that uncommon.
If I were the person and knew about that I’d pay the $8 myself; I bet he was looking to get that property for himself somehow.
In “blue” states like MI, NY, CT (that I am familiar with) local government’s main goal is to maintain their bureaucracies, and particularly pay for their huge costs of retirements and gold-plated health care.
You don’t own your property, its rather a permanent joint venture with a mafia-entity.
And as tax revenues decline, they are going to get a lot more aggressive.
Oh, right, MI - got it.
Being a homeowner in California is more trouble than its worth!
Never could figure why the city kept the profits from auction mark ups. Total.bull sht
gangster government
They don’t give the full list of terrible states. Does anyone have that?
I liked this quote:
“During a court appearance last year, William Horton and John Bursch, the county’s attorneys, argued that a ruling in favor of Rafaeli would set a precedent that could ultimately bankrupt Michigan counties by forcing local governments to compensate all homeowners in similar situations. He estimated it would cost around $2 billion.”
Well, then that was $2 billion Michigan counties were never supposed to have. You will now pay interest and fees and everything else lawyers can squeeze out of your evil little hands.
Let the public schools go under!
I looked Meisner up. He’s a democrat. Story left that out.
Just remember folks: if you think you own a home you are wrong. You rent it from the government and if you miss a rent payment - they call it property tax - they will come and take it from you lickety split.
To comply with the court decision, next time, they’ll sell the house to one of their ‘friends’ for $8.
They should have gone to the property management company which is something the tax office could and should have been able to find out very easily.
We are currently in a small legal kerfuffle ourselves as the mortgage company underpaid the property taxes for several years. The taxes had been frozen but should have been reevaluated when the property was sold, something that was not caught by the treasury even though they were sent a proper change of title notice. Recently they elected a new treasurer who now wants us to pony up the back taxes that were never paid even though no one told us or the mortgage company the taxes had gone up.
Seems like the same thing happened to several of our neighbors who bought their property in the past ten years. It is going to be interesting to see what happens.
All over $8.41?
“If I were the person and knew about that I’d pay the $8 myself; I bet he was looking to get that property for himself somehow.”
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Enquiring minds would want to know WHO the house was sold to for $24,500 and what was its true value at the time of sale. The smell of CORRUPTION is in the air... as is frequently the case when it comes to government officials.
$24,500 for an $8.41 bill. Not bad work if you can get it..................
I’m a real estate investor but I stay clear of buying tax liens. If I were to secure a property in that way, I’d feel like scum. However, there are a handful of seniors whom have passed away and have no ties to any living relatives and either the bank or county gets the property. I’ve chased those properties before, but that means reaching out to the kin...most all of whom were hurt and could not care less and let it go to auction. Oh well.
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