RICHLAND, MI — A disabled mother and her children were tossed from their home by the government after missing one property tax bill, despite owning the home free-and-clear.
Deborah Calley, a mother of two daughters, paid $164,000 cash for her dream home in 2010. The home was chosen because of convenient location and accessibility; a perfect location for her as she slowly recovers from debilitating injuries following a car accident a few years ago.
The family’s dream home became a nightmare when the Kalamazoo County government declared it to be foreclosed earlier in 2014, leaving the Calleys homeless. Local bureaucrats alleged that three years ago, Ms. Calley did not pay for the privilege to live in the county, a so-called “property tax.” Thus, the government stripped Calley of her home and property.
Ms. Calley is devastated, and claims that she had no idea about the missed property tax bill from 2011, and that she received no warning of the impending property seizure.
“When I paid the taxes in 2012 right there in Richland, no one said, ‘Oh, well you still owe money for 2011,’” said Ms. Calley to WITI. “So, I didn’t really have a clue. I thought I was right on time.”
The disabled mother is in disbelief that the government could take away property that she owned outright because of a tax bill totaling less than $2,000.
“If I had a mortgage, a bank never would’ve let that happen,” said Calley, referring to the single missed payment. “It was a mistake.”
“My life has been turned upside down because of this,” Ms. Calley sobbed. “I had to send my youngest daughter, who’s still in school, to live with her father so she can have a home, because I don’t know if I have a home anymore.”
Ms. Calley offered to pay back-taxes to settle the bill that the county alleges that she owes, but the profiteers of the seizure claim that it is now too late. Adding to the family’s grief is the fact that the foreclosed house has already been auctioned, with the highest bid totaling over $80,000. Barring judicial intervention, the county will keep the proceeds of the auction and the Calley family will get nothing.
The plight of the Calley family serves as a grim reminder of the fragility of property rights in America, and the true nature of property taxation. When citizens are obligated to pay perpetual sums of money to avoid the seizure of their rightly-owned property, they can never consider themselves anything greater than tenants on land controlled by the government.
Greetings,
I tell people this all the time. Property is the foundation of liberty and democracy yet Americans are never allowed to actually own any property. You NEVER actually own your car. You MUST register and turn ownership over to the state in order to use your own car. You NEVER posess the real title. Any “sale” of the vehicle must be done through the true owner – the state.
Government could choose to raise property taxes to $100,000 per year and seize everything and it is all legal.
Oh yeah, this was true for precious metals as well as the government seized the gold held by citizens in the early 1930’s.
Hey bitches , pay your Damn taxes and this want happen. Piss and moan on someone else’s time.Obama.
Time for an ice-bucket challenge to raise funds for Ms.Calley. And a total boycott of Kalamazoo County!
This is fucking unspeakable. This is one of the worst things I’ve ever heard of. If indeed this woman is delinquent on her taxes, the most the municipality should be allowed to do is put a lien on her house for the amount owed.
Or, at least, if the house is auctioned to pay back taxes, the owner should get the proceeds after the unpaid taxes are deducted.
In no case should the government be able to STEAL the entire worth of the house to meet a tax obligation of perhaps 100th as much.
What the fuck has happened to us?
There is no tax I resent like the property tax. It is one of the most regressive taxes there is, hitting poorer home owners much harder than affluent home owners, and at the most vulnerable points in their lives, when they need the security of a house owned outright, like this lady, the most. It defeats the purpose of owning your home, which is to have a hedge against rising prices and expenses. As you have stated, it means you do not own your own property. If there is any one issue I am willing to militate for, it is to end the ad valorum tax, and replace it with user’s fees for parking and licenses.
50 years back, Ayn Rand proposed a voluntary method of financing NECESSARY government functions- internal and external defense, and emergency response (fire dept, ambulance,etc). She pointed out that enforcement of contracts, like your house mortgage or marriage license, is a legitimate government function, and that, if you wanted your contract enforced by the government, you should pay in proportion to the size of the contract. A $500 M loan would cost more to insure than a $50K loan.
Likewise, users would pay for services to the extent that they use them. That means parking spaces and high speed limited access roads would charge higher fees and tolls.
Reminds me of that poem, ‘I did no more than you let me do’.
This should never happen in America. These people have been victimized by the county government for the crime of possessing property. Easy for the hoods to move on a disabled mother with their bully tactics. If the government will not enforce the rule of law, but instead breaks the law, it’s time for a revolution. If this was tried in a non-liberal state or county it would not fly.
No notification? Piss off, government hacks. And the next time you come onto my property with the intent to steal it you had better be armed heavily, because defense of my property is the only option left. Doesn’t matter what the “courts” or the “law” says, any “officials” attempting to take that which you own have devolved into criminals and thugs and are simply working for the state sanctioned organized crime syndicate. Molon labe, fuckers.
If there were any freemen with balls in Bitchagain they would be rallying to protect this woman from the abuses of the county. With guns. Yes, stand there and tell them they shall not pass. If they can take hers they can take yours. They have claimed ownership of it all anyway. Show them who really owns it.
With a run of bad luck, any of us could be this woman, especially as we grow old and weak. I paid cash for a modest vintage condo here in Chicago. So far, the Rahm meister has made good on his promise to not hike property taxes…… so far. Our load is modest relative to the suburbs, for which I guess I ought to be grateful.
But I’m not the least fucking bit grateful. I am down with paying my fair share of essential community services, such as emergency response, maintenance of essential infrastructure, and the civic amenities such as the parks and beaches and cultural amenities that make this city a great place to live. But that should not mean being held up at gunpoint for evermore increases, my ability to pay notwithstanding, to pay for lavish employee pensions and raises for city employees and politicians….. and for the hundreds of millions dispensed in corporate welfare and special target programs that benefit select populations while starving the things available to the population as a whole.
What ‘s worse is the blatant unfairness of the tax. I went through the rolls at random a few years back, my interest triggered by looking at the confiscatory property taxes on little $30K shanties on the far south side of the city, down by 95th St. That is a neighborhood of respectable, but poor, black people who mostly own their own little homes. It’s an area that I feel perfectly safe on the rare occasions that I’ve needed to travel to it. It is poor, but it is not a “ghetto”. What I saw appalled me. These little houses, which needed things like tuck-pointing and new roofs, and barely had 800 sq ft living space, were paying $4000 a year in property taxes while downtown condos priced at $500K or more were paying $6000. I saw similar disparities all over the city. It looked all the world to me like a massive land grab- an attempt to force these struggling homeowners out of their little houses into subsidized housing that cost the city $400K a unit to build, for the benefit of crony developers- both those who developed the “affordable” housing and those who were grabbing the land for future development, much as south loop land was being bought up while it was still a slum in the 70s and 80s.
I’m putting this out to the crowd. How can we fund city services without the property tax?
These are the stories that make my head explode. I can not imagine what that poor woman must be going through. Outright theft is all it is. Where is the judicial system in all this, why are they sitting on their hands. What ever happened to the basic principals of right and wrong?
Oh yeah, the pissed off, sniveling sheeple are all bleating their outrage.
Meanwhile, the wolves are laughing and howling with joy all the way to the bank. Wolves know sheeple don’t have the teeth or the will to bite back. Suck it up and shut up.
Alternative is to pledge and mean what you say:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
And this is just the beginning folks! If you live in a state that has property taxes, then you know full well that you are paying the state for the right to live on your own property, and if you don’t pay, this is what happens. The really scary part is that the taxing entity (usually the county) can raise taxes to whatever level they want and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it. Sure, you can protest the tax increase and go in front of a board who will quietly listen to your sob story, but the result is almost always the same. Tough shit Mr. Citizen — pay up or move out.
And it’s only going to get worse as tax revenues decline and pension funds need to be replenished and fully funded as they should be, but never will be again. The public is going to be bled dry by increasing existing taxes and new ones to come.
I’m not too worried about loosing my home to the tax man, but should it happen and it comes to loosing my home for not being able to pay for exorbitant taxes I’ve already decided to burn it to the ground rather than hand it over to a tyrannical government of any type. Fuck’em!
This county must be seriously broke. See strongtowns.org to understand why (because the money’s probably tight in your county too).
Here in Miami-Dade, we put maintenance off and then plead to the voters to borrow huge amounts from Wall Street to make the repairs. Our water system needs $50 billion in repairs, but Commissioners are floating test balloons about funding 2 separate museums: one for Cubans and another for Africans. Well at least they know how to get re-elected in their districts.