[Bondurant]

Today the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in his favor in his challenge to tax asset forfeiture laws. This may be the most publicized case but Wayne County is the worst in the state. It's insane that lawmakers in Michigan would give such radical power to the counties and that a county would actually move forward because someone underpays taxes by less than $9. A great victory for Michigan residents.

https://reason.com/2020/07/17/michig...debt/#comments

Michigan Supreme Court slams door on counties keeping excess profits from tax home foreclosures | State | iosconews.com

[jackmichigan]

Finally! It's about time that the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Michigan's un-Constitutional tax forfeiture process. Still, justice delayed is justice denied. How many years back will Counties--and the state--now be required to refund their ill-gotten gains?

[Bondurant]

Get the popcorn ready. Oakland County officials are now feigning ignorance and trying to place this on the lap of a rogue treasurer. Their schemes are fine and dandy until exposed and scorned.

https://reason.com/2020/07/24/county...er-8-tax-bill/

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Bondurant

Get the popcorn ready. Oakland County officials are now feigning ignorance and trying to place this on the lap of a rogue treasurer. Their schemes are fine and dandy until exposed and scorned.

https://reason.com/2020/07/24/county...er-8-tax-bill/

The Oakland County officials are merely playing politics. All of them knew how the tax foreclosure process was ripping people off and Meisner, as County Treasurer, was just following state law--as enacted by both Republicans and Democrats. Any County official, elected or otherwise, who claims that they did not know of this tremendous wrong is too ignorant to be a County official and should resign.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

Finally! It's about time that the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on Michigan's un-Constitutional tax forfeiture process. Still, justice delayed is justice denied. How many years back will Counties--and the state--now be required to refund their ill-gotten gains?

This really needs to be addressed with legislation - pretty much every tax sale involves an outsized gain for government, except those properties sold at tax sale with environmental hazards on them. (Like unsafe dams, old gas stations, smokestacks, burned-out houses, etc).

The entire tax-sale system either involves an unjust “taking” or a fools-lottery where someone buys something with negative value from the state.

[leroythelion]

Why didn't the guy pay the $8 he owed?

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by leroythelion

Why didn't the guy pay the $8 he owed?

He wasn't aware that it was owed.

Years ago, most current tax bills used to include any back taxes that were still owed. I don't know why that has changed, since computers make it easy to keep track of taxes, but most current tax bills do not include whether there are delinquent taxes still owing. So, someone can keep paying their current tax bills not realizing that they have missed a payment or didn't have a payment fully credited.

It also used to be that if someone mailed in their property tax payment, the date of the postmark often used to count--just like it does for federal and state income tax payments. Nowadays, most communities in Michigan do not recognize the postmark date, but only go by the date of receipt.

In the case above, the owner had mailed in their tax payment in full, but apparently it was received a few days after the due date so the Treasurer automatically added a month's worth of interest (they don't just calculate a day or two). That's what the $8 bill represented--the amount of interest which was added to his tax bill.

He subsequently was not aware of the added interest and continued to pay his tax bills as he normally did. The County foreclosed on his house for non-payment of the amount of interest that he owed. (And by that point, they usually add other fees totaling around $300.)

It should be noted that some County Treasurer's make an extra effort to make sure that people are notified about pending foreclosures. Others do the bare minimum required under the law--knowing full well that they could receive a windfall if the owner doesn't redeem their property after it has been forfeited to the County. Once the full foreclosure is final, there is no provision under the law for anyone to redeem their property, although some County Treasurer's allow owners to pay their taxes and get their property back before it goes to the public auction. The law has been the law, but County Treasurers have handled their responsibilities differently.

[leroythelion]

Originally Posted by jackmichigan

He wasn't aware that it was owed.

[snip] The law has been the law, but County Treasurers have handled their responsibilities differently.

Wow, the guy got screwed. Makes we want to check my tax account.

[Mr. In-Between]

The land of the free....