At the Supreme Court yesterday, a lawyer argued it was fair & just when a county took an old lady's home, sold it & kept the profit—over an unpaid tax bill.
I wanted to share a few highlights, bc it shows how far the gov't will go to preserve its right to violate you. A thread.
A reminder that this is the case of the 94-year-old woman whose home was taken by the government after she fell $2,300 behind on her taxes.
They added $13,000 in penalties, sold the home for $40,000, and kept the profit. /2 reason.com/2023/04/25/rob…
During arguments, Kagan asked if there were any limits to this practice. Could the government seize a $5 million dollar house over a small tax debt?
Arguing for the government, lawyer Neal Katyal said: Well, yes it could!
That should scare you. /3 reason.com/2023/04/27/the…
That's already happening, by the way.
An elderly woman in Nebraska lost her *million-dollar* farm over a small tax debt. A woman in Michigan lost her *300,000* home over a small tax debt. I could go on. /4 reason.com/2023/04/27/the…
But the best exchange was with Justice Barrett, who asked if the gov't could seize a car over $20 in parking tickets.
Katyal said no, bc there "is no tradition that goes back that could be looked to."
"Well there weren't cars then..." said Barrett. 💀
reason.com/2023/04/27/the…
The good news: The government was humiliated & the Court seemed likely to side with Geraldine.
The bad news: The government's embarrassingly flimsy arguments *worked* in previous courts, which partially explains how governments have been able to steal from their own citizens. /6
After all, civil forfeiture is still legal. The government can take everything you have over a mere accusation. Without due process.
Like the time it took almost *$1 million* from this family without ever filing criminal charges. Shouldn't be normal! /7 reason.com/2022/02/18/fbi…
I'll end here: Geraldine asked her lawyer how much longer this would take, because, at 94 years old, "I haven't got forever."
She spent some of her final years—almost a decade—fighting this, because *this* is the hill the gov't chose to die on. It's vile, & I hope SCOTUS agrees.
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