Articles

In 2017, officials in Gratiot County, Michigan, seized Donald Freed's $97,000 home to pay an overdue tax debt of $1,100. The county sold his property at auction for $42,000 and kept all of the proceeds from the sale. Shockingly Michigan's property tax law requires this all-too-common practice. It's a nice racket for the county, which gets a wind ...

In 2011, PLF client Uri Rafaeli of Oakland County, Michigan, accidentally underpaid property taxes by $8. He paid all the following years' taxes on time. But in 2014, after making his first tax payment for the year, he discovered that the County had foreclosed on his home to collect the $8 debt, plus about $277 in penalties, interest, and fees. The ...

Uri Rafaeli's small business—Rafaeli, LLC—lost a valuable Southfield, Michigan home to pay an $8 debt to Oakland County.  Andre Ohanessian lost 2.7 acres of valuable land in Orchard Village to pay a $6,000 debt.  Michigan's property tax law allowed Oakland County to sell the properties, collect the debts owed, and then pocket tens of thousand ...

This week, PLF filed an application asking the Michigan Supreme Court to grant review and bring justice to Uri Rafaeli—who lost an entire home to Oakland County over an $8 debt, and to Andrew Ohanessian—who lost 2.7 acres over a $6,000 debt. In 2011, Uri Rafaeli's business—Rafaeli, LLC—purchased a modest rental property in Southfield ...

In January 2013, Uri Rafaeli's business—Rafaeli, LLC—tried to pay the overdue taxes for a modest rental home in Southfield, Michigan.  Rafaeli miscalculated the interest due for the delinquent 2011 taxes and underpaid by $8.41. A year later, Oakland County foreclosed on the property. The County then auctioned the property for $24,500 and kept ...

Taylor Popielarz of ABC57 News  (South Bend, IN) aired a terrific segment that questions whether or not Michigan's foreclosure law is "efficient or unfair." We think you'll agree the law is unfair even if it allows the government to efficiently take your property it doesn't deserve. As you will recall, since last year, Christina Martin has been ...

This week several groups filed "friend of the court" briefs supporting PLF's Supreme Court petition in Wayside Church v. Van Buren County. Two of the amicus briefs—one by AARP and the other by the Buckeye Institute—focus on the need for the Court to review Michigan's unjust tax foreclosure law. Under this unjust and unconstitutional law, Van ...

Today, National Review published my article discussing, Wayside Church v. Van Buren County, PLF's case challenging legalized theft in Michigan. Michigan's unjust property tax law allows local governments to steal from people who fall behind on their property taxes. As I explain in the article, Can the government take your home and all your equity ...

When Wayside Church fell behind on its 2011 property taxes on a parcel that the church had used as a youth camp, Van Buren County took the youth camp property and sold it for $206,000 to pay the church's $16,750 in taxes, penalties, interest, and fees. The County kept the surplus proceeds—$189,250 more than the debt—as a windfall. Similarly, th ...