You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Government
Travesty in Arizona: Disabled Vet Loses His Home over $236 in Unpaid Taxes
2019-07-15
[American Thinker] In 1991, Air Force veteran Jim Boerner suffered "spinal and brain injuries" during a training exercise at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. Until recently, he had been the proud owner of a mobile home in a Mesa, Arizona mobile home community. He "loves his neighbors" there and "brings flowers to widowed neighbors on Christmas, Easter, and Mother's Day," Rebekah L. Sanders of the Arizona Republic writes.

He had purchased the home, his "nest egg," as he refers to it, for a sum somewhere just north of $30K, according to the article.

Now, at age 49, he is on the verge of being evicted by the new owner of that mobile home, which was seized by the government for Boerner's having been delinquent on his taxes ‐ to the tune of an unpaid amount of $236. The home's buyer, named Lester Payne, purchased the home at auction for the trifling sum of $4,400.

Calling this purchase a "steal" may be more literal than our more colloquial use of the term.

We should be clear. This is not the legal confiscation of a bank-owned item, like a car or a home, due to a breach of contract for required payments. This was a government deciding that, due to $236 of unpaid taxes, it had the right to confiscate a ~$30K home owned outright by an individual, then selling it to the highest bidder and pocketing the proceeds (which were roughly 15% of the initial purchase price).

This, in any other circumstances, would rightfully be declared the theft of this man's property. A "steal," indeed.
Posted by:Besoeker

#3  1. Start a Go-Fund me site for Jim
2. Take the first $5K and have the neighbors "encourage" the new owner to sell it back. "We don't think you'll be happy here". Yes I'll award a profit for his trouble.
3. Set up an account to forward pay his taxes for the next 10 years.
4. Make sure this travesty is publicized appropriately in the local media and by Veteran's groups. Tag line - "The Gov't is turning veterans into the homeless"
Posted by: Warthog   2019-07-15 10:00  

#2  ^ what he said.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2019-07-15 08:22  

#1  This was a government deciding that, due to $236 of unpaid taxes, it had the right to confiscate a ~$30K home owned outright by an individual, then selling it to the highest bidder and pocketing the proceeds (which were roughly 15% of the initial purchase price).

You can't pay the taxes gov't rent, someone else will. Private property ownership is an illusion.

Posted by: Besoeker   2019-07-15 04:53  

00:00