Michigan county treasurers can seizes people's houses for unpaid taxes.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

PerhapsSoHat Retweeted

Wow, read this bonkers story from @EricBoehm87 about how Michigan country treasurers can seizes people's houses for unpaid taxes.

Link to tweet

[Jake Stern]

1. While there are certainly abuses by the government

Far too many times it becomes apparent, if you dig deeper than the surface, that these homeowners received multiple notices and had a considerable amount of time to make it right. This guy had more than two years to pay eight and a half bucks.

The father/daughter complained that noticed were sent to the wrong address. It’s YOUR responsibility to keep the assessors office updated with your current mailing address.

A simple phone call or a quick trip to their office could have prevented the assessor from sending notices to the wrong address.

[Kaleva]

2. Mr. Rafaeli didn't inform Oakland County of his new address in California

[catbyte]

3. Still, it's obscene to seize and sell property over $8.41--especially when it was a miscalculation.

[Jake Stern]

4. In this case it certainly is

But in most cases it isn't. Get tired of these stories with outrage inducing headlines like "Veteran loses house over tax debt" which on the surface seem like a total travesty until you read 5 paragraphs down where it turns out that they haven't paid taxes in 4 years all the while the government sent multiple notices and even did personal service notifying them of the arrears. They continued to blow it off and only after the new owner comes to the door, treasurer's deed in hand, do they decide to act and go crying to the newspapers.

Truth is:

- In no state can one take possession of a piece property immediately after the original tax sale. There is always some sort of redemption period before title to the property is transferred. For example in Colorado it's 3 years and in Alabama it's virtually unlimited unless certain strict requirements are met by tax certificate purchasers. In other words they have years to make it right.

- All states have property tax abatement programs for certain groups (elderly, disabled, veterans, etc.) which can help lower property taxes and stave off a tax lien. In some states there are programs to help property owners redeem after a tax sale.