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(Washington, D.C.) Tax lien sales canceled after Post investigation; Gray calls for reforms
Source: Washington Post
Tax lien sales canceled after Post investigation; Gray calls for reforms
By Mike DeBonis, Michael Sallah and Debbie Cenziper, Friday, September 13, 7:26 PM
District officials said Friday they will institute new curbs on the long-standing practice of selling delinquent property tax bills to private speculators, including establishing an ombudsman and canceling the recent sale of tax debts on 142 homes.
The move, jointly announced by Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi in an evening news release, comes in response to a 10-month Washington Post investigation that exposed a system that has allowed poor and elderly city residents to lose their homes over debts of only a few hundred dollars.
In a statement, Gray said he was “appalled by the injustices cited and immediately began pursuing potential remedies.”
“The actions that Dr. Gandhi and I have taken today will ensure that, from this point forward, no District residents whose property has been sold at a tax-lien sale will be at risk of losing their homes through this process if they have extraordinary circumstances that warrant a re-examination of their cases,” he said.
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By Mike DeBonis, Michael Sallah and Debbie Cenziper, Friday, September 13, 7:26 PM
District officials said Friday they will institute new curbs on the long-standing practice of selling delinquent property tax bills to private speculators, including establishing an ombudsman and canceling the recent sale of tax debts on 142 homes.
The move, jointly announced by Mayor Vincent C. Gray and Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi in an evening news release, comes in response to a 10-month Washington Post investigation that exposed a system that has allowed poor and elderly city residents to lose their homes over debts of only a few hundred dollars.
In a statement, Gray said he was “appalled by the injustices cited and immediately began pursuing potential remedies.”
“The actions that Dr. Gandhi and I have taken today will ensure that, from this point forward, no District residents whose property has been sold at a tax-lien sale will be at risk of losing their homes through this process if they have extraordinary circumstances that warrant a re-examination of their cases,” he said.
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Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/2013/09/13/a0933688-1cc0-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html
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