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05/07/2022 |
| The Docket |
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| We’re trying out a new format for The Docket this week. Like it? Hate it? Please let us know. |
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| John Stossel’s exposé on home equity theft has outraged viewers: The short, explosive video segment—in which the broadcast veteran sits down with PLF attorney Christina Martin and our client Tawanda Hall—has been viewed over 150,000 times within 24 hours of going online. |
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The thousands of comments under the video reveal how shocked and angry people are to learn that the government steals from struggling Americans like Tawanda. “Every government person who defends this sort of stealing should have to forfeit all their property as a consequence,” one commenter fumes. Another says, “I can’t describe how angry this makes me.”
If you haven’t already seen the video, we urge you to watch it now. Tawanda, a Michigan nursing assistant, has been remarkably brave in sharing her story—and by sitting down with Stossel, she opened viewers’ eyes to states’ unconscionable “tax and take” scheme.
watch
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| At least Wisconsin residents don’t have to worry anymore: |
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The state just passed a law that bans home equity theft. Writing in the Washington Examiner, PLF’s Carol Park explains how Wisconsin now forces counties to return surplus proceeds to residents whose homes have been seized and sold over tax debts.
Congratulations to the Badger State. Now there’s only 11 states left that still practice home equity theft.
read more
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Massachusetts is one of the 11 remaining culprits—and state officials aren’t the only guilty parties.
Some private investment firms are making a mint from home equity theft. The state sells residents’ tax debts to companies like Boston-based Tallage, which then forecloses on the resident’s home, sells it, and pockets the windfall from the sale.
Tallage paid the government under $10,000 to acquire the tax debt of our client Deborah Foss, a 67-year-old grandmother. When the company kicked her out of her home, she was forced to spend the Massachusetts winter living in her car.
Meanwhile, Tallage sold Deborah’s home for $242,000—a stunning return on their initial investment. Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. That’s the opposite of what Massachusetts is doing in its deals with Tallage—and it needs to stop.
read more
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🧐QUIZ TIME:
Which state has the lowest property tax in the country?
- Alabama (state motto: “We dare defend our rights”)
- New Hampshire (state motto: “Live free or die”)
- Hawaii (state motto: “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”)
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If you guessed (C), you’re correct: The State of Hawaii has an effective property tax rate of 0.28%. If you own a $218,000 home in Hawaii, your annual property taxes should be about $610—that’s it!
New Hampshire is actually at the other end of the spectrum with a rate of 2.18%, one of the highest property tax rates in the nation. But because New Hampshire has no sales tax, maybe that’s not too bad—unlike New Jersey (state motto: “Liberty and Prosperity”), which clocks in with the highest property tax rate at 2.49% and has a 6.62% sales tax. Yikes.
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Pacific Legal Foundation
555 Capitol Mall Suite 1290
Sacramento, CA 95814 |
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