美国国家公共电台 NPR--Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case

Grandma didn't pay taxes. Now her house is focus of property rights test case

Transcript¹

The U.S. Supreme² Court hears arguments Wednesday in the case of a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman whose condominium was seized by Hennepin County for failure to pay property taxes. At issue is the way at least a dozen states handle the sale of homes to pay off overdue³ taxes.

Geraldine Tyler bought her condo in Minneapolis in 1999 and lived there until 2010, when at age 81 she moved to a senior assisted-living center at the urging of her children. After that, she stopped paying taxes on the condo, which she still owned. Tyler does not dispute that the county repeatedly notified her that she risked losing the condo if she didn't pay up. By 2015, she owed $15,000 in unpaid⁴ taxes, interest and fees.

The county took possession of the property under state law and sold the condo at auction⁵ for $40,000. But like at least a dozen other states, it did not pay Tyler the surplus $25,000 from the sale.

Represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, Tyler subsequently went to court, contending that by keeping the excess, the county had unconstitutionally taken her property.

"We call that home equity⁶ theft because it's essentially⁷ legalized government theft," lawyer Christina Martin of the Pacific Legal Foundation says.

Martin concedes that the county had the right to take Tyler's property for nonpayment of taxes but argues that "when the government takes more than it's owed, that's ultimately wrong, and we believe it's unconstitutional" — unconstitutional, she says, because it is a taking of property without just compensation.

The county's view

But the county tells a very different story about the seizure⁸ of Tyler's home.

"The county doesn't make a profit," its lawyer Rebecca Holschuh says. "The county doesn't even break even through its administration of the tax forfeiture⁹ laws."

Holschuh notes that there are a variety of ways that homeowners can avoid forfeiture. The state has a payment plan that allows people to pay what they owe over a 10-year period. And for seniors like Tyler, there's a program allowing them to pay no more than 3% of their annual income.

Holschuh says that the county really would rather not be a default realtor. It doesn't want abandoned homes, which bring down property values, and it doesn't want to spend money to make a property sellable.

"And really, if somebody wants to pull their equity out of property, the best way for them to do that is to sell the property themselves," Holschuh said.

She notes that's why the state gives homeowners five years before forfeiture — to refinance their homes and pay back taxes, enter into a tax payment plan, or sell the home and reap the profit. Indeed, the county asserts that Tyler had no equity in the home at the time of the forfeiture because she owed $48,000 on her mortgage and more than $11,000 in homeowner's association fees, debts that were canceled under state law when the state declared her home forfeited¹⁰ for taxes.

"This is really a remedy of last resort in which the title transfers to the state by default," Holschuh said.

"It's a roller coaster ride"

Whoever is right, nobody disputes that losing a home can be devastating¹¹ for families. And homeowners do tell some horrible tales elsewhere in the country.

Tawana Hall and her husband moved out of Detroit to Southfield, Mich., bought a rundown house and began fixing it up. But the couple fell behind on tax payments, enrolled¹² in a tax payment plan and then fell behind again. The city subsequently took possession of the home and sold it to a developer for $1, who later sold it for $300,000.

"It's a roller coaster ride," Hall said. "You put a lot into it. And it was supposed to be our forever home and our children's home ... to have to uproot¹³ and move back into the city ... it was a lot and, you know, it's just overwhelming."

The people most often harmed by these property forfeitures¹⁴ for back taxes are the "elderly, sick, or the vulnerable and unsophisticated," according to Martin, the lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation.

That said, this is the first time the Supreme Court has directly considered whether a property tax forfeiture, something the court has long upheld, can be considered a taking under the Constitution. If it is, that poses other questions: Would the county have to maximize the sale price, not just put the property up for public auction? What if nobody wanted to buy the property at the higher price? What if there were competing claims on the property?

County and local government associations have filed briefs contending that such a system would add to urban blight¹⁵ while crippling local government property tax collection, the very system that finances local schools, fire and police protection, safe drinking water and much more.

But the current conservative court has been very sympathetic to property rights claims, so it may well be sympathetic to Tyler's argument, too.

A decision in the case is expected by summer.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

3 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

4 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

5 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

6 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

9 forfeiture   

n.（名誉等）丧失

参考例句：

• Both face maximum forfeitures of about $1.2 million.双方都面临最高120万美元左右的罚金。
• If he should break his day,what should I gain by the exaction of the forfeiture?如果他到期不还我从这罚金中又能得到什么好处？

10 forfeited   

（因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Because he broke the rules, he forfeited his winnings. 他犯规，所以丧失了奖金。
• He has forfeited the right to be the leader of this nation. 他丧失了作为这个国家领导的权利。

11 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

12 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 uproot   

v.连根拔起，拔除；根除，灭绝；赶出家园，被迫移开

参考例句：

• The family decided to uproot themselves and emigrate to Australia.他们全家决定离开故土，移居澳大利亚。
• The trunk of an elephant is powerful enough to uproot trees.大象的长鼻强壮得足以将树木连根拔起。

14 forfeitures   

n.（财产等的）没收，（权利、名誉等的）丧失( forfeiture的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Both face maximum forfeitures of about $1.2 million. 双方都面临最高120万美元左右的罚金。 来自辞典例句
• These statutes often make the contracts void andthe parties involved to various penalties and forfeitures. 这些法规通常导致合同无效，并且给予涉案当事人各种处罚或者没收财物。 来自互联网

15 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。