Les Miserables In Bitter-Clinger Country

A property tax ruling in Pennsylvania caught a lot of attention; here is USA Today:

Pa. judge upholds sale of widow's home over $6 tax bill

A Pennsylvania county judge has again ruled against a widow who lost her home because of an unpaid $6.30 interest charge for paying her school taxes late.

Beaver County Common Pleas Judge Gus Kwidis ruled that Eileen Battisti, of Aliquippa, was properly notified about the September 2011 tax sale of her home, which was valued at about $280,000 and sold at auction for $116,000. The decision last Tuesday followed an evidentiary hearing ordered by a higher court, which last April overturned his earlier ruling upholding the sale.

Battisti, who still lives in the house, told the Associated Press on Monday that she would appeal.

"I paid everything, and didn't know about the $6.30," she said. "For the house to be sold just because of $6.30 is crazy."

Crazy? Yes indeed. My hazy impression, as a long time American citizen, is that the law looks for materiality and proportionality in determining crimes and attaching penalties. When the punishment doesn't fit the crime, Something Is Done.

And that hazy impression finds support in the earlier ruling:

In denying Taxpayer’s objections without an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied Taxpayer due process. In Geier v. Tax Claim Bureau of Schuylkill County, 527 Pa. 41, 588 A.2d 480 (1991), our Supreme Court emphasized that due process under both the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions must be satisifed whenever the government subjects a citizen’s property to forfeiture for nonpayment of taxes. Accordingly, “a taxing authority’s strict compliance with the tax sale law does not necessarily satisfy the demands of due process.” Geier, 527 Pa. at 46, 588 A.2d at 483.

There are hurdles and procedural roadblocks but eventually (IMHO) she will be allowed to seek equitable relief in the courts and this farce will end with the woman keeping her home and the tax-sale shark who was looking for a quick score going away to annoy someone else.

The earlier ruling and press coverage gives lots of detail on how we reached this mess:

Battisti paid her 2008 Center Area School District taxes six days late. Though she paid the balance in full, she did not pay an additional $6.30 interest fee for the late payment by a May 1, 2009, deadline.

Battisti's attorney, Ed Santillan, said his client, a widow, never received notice of the interest fee for the late payment.

But Kwidis ruled "there is no doubt" Battisti was notified of the proposed sheriff's sale. He said she acknowledged receipt of a certified mail notice onJuly 7, 2011, and she was served a notice on Aug. 16, 2011, by a sheriff's deputy. The property was sold on Sept. 12, 2011.

Battisti's house had been paid off with life insurance money she received after her husband, Anthony Battisti, passed away in 2004, Santillan said. The couple bought the home in 1999.

Battisti paid her taxes in full in 2008 and 2009, according to the court's written opinion, but the $6.30 in unpaid interest from 2008 had grown to $255.84 at the time of the sale.

Well, I would be delighted to have a chat with whoever gave her the advice to pay off her entire mortgage. Although the mortgage rate is probably higher than whatever she was earning on her money market savings, this woman would have benefitted from a hefty rainy-day fund. And as of 2004, with the previous recession recently ended, was a future downturn so hard to imagine? As she now has learned, paying off the mortgage does not mean she owns the house, since there is an ongoing tax liability owed to an insane clown posse. Grr. But I digress.

Per the ruling, both the late fees and the widow's confusion were compounded by the taxing authority's slack bookeeping:

In April of 2010, Beaver County and Central Valley School District notified the Tax Claim Bureau of 2009 unpaid taxes on the Property. The unpaid Beaver County tax was $1,184.37 and a $118.44 penalty; the unpaid Central Valley School District tax was $2,324 and a $116.09 penalty. On June 3, 2010, the Tax Claim Bureau notified Taxpayer that she owed $3,832.71 for her 2009 real estate taxes, including interest and costs. On July 2, 2010, the Tax Claim Bureau sent a certified notice to Taxpayer that added interest, raising the total to $3,990.03. On September 11, 2010, the Tax Claim Bureau received a check from Taxpayer in the amount of $3,990.03, and it was applied to Taxpayer’s 2009 county and school taxes.

There remained an unpaid balance of $234.72 for the 2008 school taxes. This amount was based upon the $6.30 interest imposed when the tax payment was six days late and then grew with accruing interest and costs. On September 12, 2011, Taxpayer’s Property was sold at an upset tax sale for collection of the unpaid balance of $234.72 owing on Taxpayer’s 2008 school taxes.

So the poor woman had the silly idea that by paying what she was billed in 2009 she was settling her debt. Her bad!

As noted, she is appealing; she has been allowed to stay in her home pending appeals, and eventually a court will toss this out.

FWIW: My inner pedant can't rest without noting that, although her home maybe worth $280,000 today (Zillow say $290K, in a town with a median home price of $59K), the tax sale took place in Sept 2011, before the full fire of the Obama recovery was raging.

Again per Zillow, her home would have been worth roughly $250K in Sept 2011. That said, here are some homes in nearby towns that actually sold in Sept 2011 (1,2,3). The *estimated* value increases are $50K, $80K, and $50K respectively. By that criteria, the tax sale at $116,000 was a total rip-off.

YES, TAX-SALE SHARK: I don't think this is The House of Sand and Fog. The buyer was in court from the jump, filing motions to sustain the sale; I would say his interest in an equitable resolution is zero:

Battisti’s lawyer Ed Santillan said his client would lose about $200,000 in equity if she accepts the sale proceeds and that she wants to keep her home. Battisti said Lewis, the new homeowner, has offered to return it to her for a “ridiculous” $260,000.

IN LITIGATION: The USA Today piece ends with this:

Tax records show that as of last week she has an outstanding balance of more than $20,000, including penalties and interest, for county, municipal and school taxes from 2009 to 2013.

"She" has a balance? That is far from clear, which means the suggestion that she is a bit of a deadbeat is off base; the helpful link they provide advises us that the status of the tax bill in "in litigation". If it is eventually decided that the buyer owned the house as of Sept 2011, I doubt she will be found liable for the 2012 and 2013 taxes.

We do glean this clue from another story:

In his six-page order, the judge said the former homeowner is entitled to $108,039 in proceeds from the sale after her tax obligations are met.

The reported sale price was $116,000. Her unpaid balances from 2010 and 2011 are roughly $5K per year, so the numbers don't quite mesh, but they're close.

 

Comments

[MarkO]

Just who is this Les and why is he miserable?

[Threadkiller]

Who gets the difference of the $116,000 sale price and the unpaid balance?

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Steyn is on Dennis Miller. You can listen live here - http://www.dennismillerradio.com/

first hour 12-1 eastern time.

[Jane]

Welcome to the new America.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I don't get the 'New America' comment.

[Jane]

New America: Where you can seize someone's home for a $6.00 tax bill; Where you can ban someone for life for something he said in private; Where you can be president and lie and lie and lie and the press doesn't even bother to mention it.

[Jane]

Clarice, I understand now why the Benghazi docs were released to Judicial Watch.

Apparently they started out as non-classified. When Congress asked for them the WH declared them classified and redacted most of them. Judicial Watch sued and the court ordered them to produce redacted docs. The WH had to know this was coming whihc may explain the hire of the criminal lawyer.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The tax bill reference is backwards. In 'Apple Pie' America days gone by, widows routinely lost homes for arbitrary tax or utility liens, and sometimes outright fraud. Consumer protection laws and procedural safeguards enacted over the past 50+ years make these sort of arbitrary results far less likely to occur. This whole story is bizarre, and somehow I get the sense not been fully told.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

an update - Gosnell Movie
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[Clarice Feldman]

Thanks, Jane.

That milking of oldsters for minor tax arrears was going on in DC for years, and only recently was the practice halted. I can't remember the details of the new policy but people were outraged when they understood the shark feeding that was going on here.

[Clarice Feldman]

Looks like the Dems have given up on Wendy Davis per Red State, Remember her when establishment types mock some TP candidates..she was the star of a well-fubnded war on women, take back Texas drive by establishment Dems, no ordinary citizen pushed forward with no experience or funding.

[Frau Stachelschwein]

Well, well well. Something new I learned about Tom Steyer:

"While the Koch brothers typically receive more scrutiny from lawmakers and the media about their donations to conservative groups, the (Senate) hearing on Wednesday comes amid the annual meeting for the secretive club of wealthy liberals known as the Democracy Alliance.

One of the alliance’s members, San Francisco hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, has already pledged to spend $100 million in the upcoming midterm elections on candidates who support environmentalist causes. Steyer is now under fire after public records revealed that his hedge fund was allegedly involved in a Ponzi scheme to defraud German real estate investors of $67 million."

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Frau-- Herr Steyer will no doubt say that his Hedge Fund engaged in standard business practices in the Hedgie industry... wait, wait....

[Marlene]

I agree NK,there must be more to the story. Many years ago,after the death of my father-in-law,my mother-law moved back to Maine full time. They had been snowbirds for about ten years. She found an overdue sewer/water tax bill in her mail for the Maine house. It might have been one of those threatening second or third notice type letters. The balance due was maybe? about seven dollars. She marched into town hall and let loose. She waved the letter in the face of the town clerk and said we've been paying taxes in this town for 50 years and this is the respect I get? For seven lousy dollars. As I always say,don't mess with Nana. :)

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Good for Nana Marlene.

[Captain Hate]

So Deadbeat Barbie is too disgusting even for the donks?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The Dems dropped Barbie when the polling said she'd lose badly. Disgusting? ... she's no where near the critical level of Dem tolerance for that. Not even close.

[Frau Stachelschwein]

"Wendy and her Catheter" wasn't enough to put her name in lights, CH.

[Clarice Feldman]

Rick seems to be locked out of JOM. If anyone has any ideas how we can restore him to this place, please speak up.

[cathyf]

In both Illinois and Iowa, after your property is sold at the tax auction you have a period of some months to redeem it -- you can go pay your back taxes and the sale is voided and any money paid by the buyer is returned.

The "tax sale" isn't really a sale at all. It is merely an option to buy the property at a future date if the owner really really really fails to pay the taxes. The buyers of these things manage them as option portfolios...

I expect that there is some racket going on where the bills and notices are only on a bulletin board inside a closet in the courthouse basement or something like that.

[AliceH]

--Rick seems to be locked out of JOM.

He's more computer savvy than I am, so I assume he's already cleared his cache, deleted his cookies, rebooted his router, rebooted his machine, tried a different browser.

I believe the only standard troubleshooting step that remains is to "jiggle the wires".

[Stephanie]

Has he tried creating a new typhuspad sign in with a throwaway email addy?

[Frau Stachelschwein]

I've had trouble posting from *either* of my computers for the last several days but in the words of hit, there is always

Free Rick!
Free Rick!
Free Rick!

[Rick B]

Cache cleared, cookies eaten - now Stephanie's suggestion.

[Rick B]

waddayaknow - THANKS STEPHANIE!!!

[Miss Marple]

As I said, Mike Pence stepped in it with his stupid attempt to "rebrand" Common Core as Indiana Core.

Michelle Malkin recaps it all here.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/big-government-republicans-like-mike-pence-pushing-a-phony-common-core-rebrand/article/2547894

I did not watch him on Sunday but a friend of mine did, and all of the things he bragged about were either accomplished under Mitch Daniels administration or are as a result of Daniels efforts.

NOT a good candidate. Do not say I didn't warn you.

[MaxB]

Travesty.

[Tom Maguire]

I believe the only standard troubleshooting step that remains is to "jiggle the wires".

Surely somewhere there is a screw he can loosen and then re-tighten? That works for me, or will one day.

[Stephanie]

You're most welcome Rick!

[jimmyk]

No more banging on the top of the computer like we used to do with TVs?

Incidentally, I have never signed up with Typhuspad and consequently have no account that can be deleted, as Rick's apparently was. And I have only rarely had trouble posting.