The Supreme Court on Oct. 3 agreed to consider how the compensation a county government owes to someone whose property was foreclosed on for non-payment of taxes should be calculated.
In the case, the nation’s highest court is expected to decide if governments may retain the surplus equity of homes sold for back taxes beyond the amount of the taxes owed.
The case comes two years after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, that a county wronged a grandmother when it forced the sale of her condominium over an unpaid tax debt and kept the sale proceeds that far exceeded the tax she owed. Critics call such a practice “home equity theft.”…