Are Property Taxes Unconstitutional? Do You Own Your Property If Forced To Pay Rent To The Government?
From Mara Zebest (my new favorite blogger)
Part 1 of a recent WaPo article series outlines how federal agents are seizing private property for unpaid tax bills (some as little as $44 as Drudge notes).
Property taxes could be equated to paying rent on property you own. In a nutshell, more government theft and a loss of property rights.
The best illustration of this is a video posted below from LemonadeFreedom in which an Easton, PA man pays $7,143 of property taxes in one dollar bills to make a point. This form of protest offers a great opportunity to illustrate many great points. Ironically, the big government that has no problem stealing from the hard earned labor of others—seems to have difficulty counting the money they steal.
This strategy certainly allowed an opportunity to make a lot of great points. Maybe this should be considered by all to bring awareness to the ridiculousness of massive government and the cost of inefficiency—that comes with it.
Lehighvalleylive reports the following:
Fed up with having to pay $7,143 in school taxes for a district his children don’t attend, a Forks Township man paid that portion of his tax bill last week in single dollar bills. [...]
Robert Fernandes, a father of three, moved to Forks Township a year ago from Warren County, seeking lower property taxes for a larger home that could also house his elderly parents. Fernandes commutes to work as an IT manager for a company in Bedminster Township, N.J., while his wife home-schools the children, ages 7, 4 and 1.
Fernandes says he got a great deal on a short sale when he bought his home, but his annual property taxes total nearly $10,000. Reached by phone Tuesday, Fernandes said he doesn’t want to pay $7,143 in school taxes.
“We don’t even use the public system, yet I am being forced to pay all this money into a public school system,” he said. “I don’t think that’s really either fair or just or even ethical.
“It would be the equivalent if McDonald’s were to force vegetarians to pay for their cheeseburgers.”
CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ THE REST AT GATEWAY.
6 comments:
I actually know someone who lost her home of over 18 years here in Northern Virginia. The excuse given for the foreclosure: mortgage in arrears for two payments. But she ponied up all the money and all penalties before the 3rd payment was even due!
Now my friend, a 50 Something, is living with her mother way out in the boonies.
Soon enough after the foreclosure, it became clear what was actually going on. My friend's house was razed. Now, a megamansion sits on that lot.
So, the bank got a rake off. So does the local government, which can charge 4x the taxes on the megamansion as were assessed on my friend's modest home.
BTW, I pay nearly $500/month in real estate taxes here -- because I have land (well less than an acre, BTW). The house was built in 1935 and isn't worth much as compared to the land. The zoning Nazis will not let me sell off any of the back lot without a hearing for which I have to pony up at least $10,000 just to be heard at some fucking meeting.
Even though my family has lived here since 1947 and I since 1972, the county classifies me as "a developer" if I try to sell off any land. Almost all the houses around me are sitting on lots 1/2 the size of this one, BTW.
Back in 2000, the taxes on this property ran $200/month.
Property taxes are the elephant in the room -- and part of the road to equalizing wealth.
That's hard to believe, but I know you, and you don't seem like you'd believe b.s. from your friend.
That's absolute governmental abuse FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA.
In the case of my friend, it was abuse on the part of a particular town which is ever in search of funds -- for no good reason except that, during the time frame I spoke of, many commercially leased buildings were sitting empty and, thus, the deficit in the town's revenue.
I did see the terms of my friend's mortgage. She should have read the fine print! Still, this woman and her teenaged daughter had to move out to the boonies and commute some 40 miles each way every day.
There is a push on in this area to raze older homes (nicely kept ones) and put up megamansions which require property taxes of some $1500/month. And I'm not speaking of ritzy Great Falls and McLean, either. These changes are happening in some of the weirdest areas, including Pimmit Hills.
And one more thing....One reason that my taxes soared here is all the McMansions all around me. My taxes went up because homes around me were selling for so much. Never mind that I could never sell this home for $1 million.
We call them McMansions.
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