I just cannot express in words how amazed I am that we, in America, are still arguing about things that were already settled in 1215 in the Magna Carta where King John swore in that when his sheriff or bailiff came to collect any debts owed him from a dead man, they could remove property “until the debt which is evident shall be fully paid to us; and the residue shall be left to the executors to fulfill the will of the deceased.” W. McKechnie, Magna Carta, A Commentary on the Great of King John, ch. 26, p. 322 (rev. 2d ed. 1914)
Geraldine Tyler is a 94 year old woman (you go girl!) who owed about $2,300 in real estate taxes. The state of MN piled on about $13,000 in penalties (don’t even….) to these unpaid taxes so the total owed was about $15,000. Then the state of Minnesota sold her condo for $40,000 to pay this $15,000 debt and stole the rest ($25,000).
This case was brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation. Take a look at their web site here – https://homeequitytheft.org/ where they show that Minnesota is not the only state engaging in similar theft.
Illinois is the biggest offender and has stolen close to $400,000,000 from property owners using this scheme, MN being second with about $100,000,000 in stolen money. No wonder it was fighting tooth and nail to preserve the status quo.
MA is not far behind – it has stolen close to $50,000,000 from unsuspecting property owners.
Thankfully (better late than never, right?), on 5-25-23, the Supreme Court of the United States, 808 years after the Magna Carta!, decided here that this is an unconstitutional taking violating the 5th Amendment – Supreme Court of the US – Tyler vs Hennepin County, MN.
OMG!
I hope we don’t have to wait another 800 years for them to summon the wisdom to also notice that it is wrong for a policeman to stop you because they claim they think they thought you might have been doing something illegal, tow your car and all possessions in it and turn it into property of…..the local police department…which pays their salaries and perks! You tell me – how is that so different from being a pirate? (: