WTF !!! - 'The New Tax Man: Big Banks And Hedge Funds' - HuffPo

[WillyT]

The New Tax Man: Big Banks And Hedge Funds
First Posted: 10-18-10 08:28 AM | Updated: 10-18-10 09:40 AM
By Fred Schulte and Ben Protess
Huffington Post Investigative Fund

<snip>

Nearly a dozen major banks and hedge funds, anticipating quick profits from homeowners who fall behind on property taxes, are quietly plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into businesses that collect the debts, tack on escalating fees and threaten to foreclose on the homes of those who fail to pay.

The Wall Street investors, which include Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have purchased from local governments the right to collect delinquent taxes on several hundred thousand properties, many in distressed housing markets, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found.

In many cases, the banks and hedge funds created new companies to do their bidding. They gave the companies obscure, even whimsical names and used post office boxes as their addresses, masking Wall Street's dominant new role as a surrogate tax collector.

In exchange for paying overdue real estate taxes, the investors gain legal powers from local governments to collect the debt and levy fees. At first, property owners may owe little more than a few hundred dollars, only to find their bills soaring into the thousands. In some jurisdictions, the new Wall Street tax collectors also chase debtors over other small bills, such as for water, sewer and sidewalk repair.

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/18/the-new-tax-man-big-banks_n_766169.html

:wtf:

I guess it's official now...

:mad:

[Skink]

1. sounds unconstitutional.

[WillyT]

2. Christ...

Some banks also are packaging tax liens as securities - in a similar way to how unpaid home loans are securitized - and selling them to investors.

If mortgage holders fail to pay overdue taxes, an investor could waltz off with a home worth hundreds of thousands of dollars for the price of paying the owner's tax bill. Most homeowners eventually pay their debt.

:argh:

[Skink]

3. Feudalism?

[wallwriter]

4. This makes feudalism seem like welfare statehood n/t

[glitch]

5. No racket too brazen for these banksters.

Natural consequence of not only not holding them accountable for their crimes but bailing them out.

[enough]

10. +++ (nt)

[EC]

6. Bush handed the tax collections over to private corps

but I thought that I had read some time back that Obama brought it all back into the IRS domain?

[scarletwoman]

14. Property taxes have nothing to do with the IRS. (nt)

[yodermon]

7. F A C I S M -- this is how it happens HERE, ya'll.

whimsical fascism with customer support.

[AzDar]

8. K & R &...

:puke:

[loudsue]

9. This needs to be stopped immediately....state legislatures are the first line of defense

in this situation. They can stop their local governments from allowing this type of thing to happen.

What in the hell is it going to take to stop the corporations from taking over this country? It's too late. They already did. Thank you, Ronald Reagan.

[nashville_brook]

11. k and r

holy shite.

[WillyT]

12. Agreed...

:D

:hi:

[WillyT]

13. Kick !!!

:kick: