Home Lost Over Tax Bill of $546

latimes.com ^ | 2/17/03 | Jocelyn Y. Stewart

[ivegotabrain]

In the auditorium at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, an auctioneer stood on stage before a crowd of 700 people and offered bidders the most valuable possession 85-year-old Terrell Dotson owned.

The minimum bid for the one-bedroom, one-bathroom Inglewood condominium was just $4,287 -- enough to pay back taxes, interest, penalties and the costs of selling the property. The county was selling the condo because, seven years ago, Dotson failed to pay one $546.81 tax bill.

When the bidding hit $81,000, the auctioneer bellowed, "Sold!"

With that, Terrell Dotson, an Army veteran of World War II, lost the home he had paid for in full -- and all that came with it.

[ivegotabrain]

LA Times requires registration and cookies, which is annoying to say the least. Story will enrage.

[George from New England]

Could someone else please post the full article. These news operations that require registration p!ss me off.
You know they will sell your email and increase the junk that you have to tolerate.

[savedbygrace]

Uh, George, we can't post whole LA Times articles. Court Order and all that.

[jjm2111]

The gov't shits all over people who cannot fight back.

[jjm2111]

Pssst. Don't tell the LA Times, but you can register under a bogus email address. You don't have to give your whole name either.

[ivegotabrain]

I tried to post the full article. LA Times articles must be excerpted. Sorry!

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I would have given this man the money in a heartbeat. Damn.

[ivegotabrain]

I registered under my standard alias: Julia Noneubiz

[RightWhale]

Isn't there a tax exemption for seniors?

[Hodar]

The county was selling the condo because, seven years ago, Dotson failed to pay one $546.81 tax bill

And we are then lead to believe that in the past 7 years he was unable to pay his tax? That this was a surpise to him, that no one warned him that he could lose his home?

Sanity check ... minimum bid was $4,287 his yearly tax bill is $546.81. Assuming that taxes do actually increase, and there are penalties assessed for non-payment of taxes lets do some math.

$4287 tax bill/$546.81 tax per year means that he is behind in taxes 7.84 years. Or, this man has refused to pay taxes for the past 7 years. What did he expect.

[Tony in Hawaii]

I'd like to see them sell elmer@fudd.net

[ivegotabrain]

There is here in Colorado, but I don't know about California. Anybody else know?

[cruiserman]

Another example of why private property is a sham. No one is a home owner if he pays property taxes.

[ivegotabrain]

When he bought the condo, the 2nd half of the tax bill was sent to the former owner. Only one delinquent notice is sent. After that there is apparently a small notice on property tax statements that past tax is due.

This is all explained in some detail in the article.

[cavtrooper21]

Socialist Republic of Kalifornia Ping
And a Vet too, they have no shame....

[RightWhale]

There is an exemption here, too, but you have to actually apply for it: it's not automatic. Age 62.

[cajun-jack]

85 yrs old....i would have shot the auctioneer and the sob that bought it and all the other "actors" on stage....give me life in prison...at 85 is about 30 minutes.

[Hodar]

If the 2nd half of the tax bill was sent to a former owner; then this man should have a legal option to sue his Real Estate Broker. He paid a real estate broker a commission to make certain that this sort of thing would not happen. A tax record and deed search and proper tax filing are standard practice. Also, one would certainly expect that at least one certified letter would have been delivered to the owner. I'm usually suspect of cases where the individual looses his home due to circumstances 'beyond his control'. My experience has been that people refuse to pay tax (or other such obligation), then cry innocence when the penalty phase of their decision is carried out.

[spodefly]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/la-me-taxsale17feb17,0,2999996.story?coll=sfla-newsnation-front

link to a non-password version on another paper.

[ivegotabrain]

I might be inclined to agree with you, if the gentleman had failed to pay his property taxes in the intervening years. He did not. In fact, he continued to pay his taxes even after his condo had been auctioned off. The government now owes him at least $55,000. (Property tax refund, as well as difference between selling price and back tax with penalties and interest.) Which does not come close to replacing what he lost.