Eminent Domain...

[SteamWake]

In a story that looks like it was lifted from the EU or soviet block...



Bono and 21 others are waging a long battle. The city government wants to tear down Willets Point, and build a new development of housing, parks, and recreation facilities. In order to do that, the city is threatening to use eminent domain against Bono and the property owners who refuse to sell.

"If it was a road or a hospital, or something that was needed," says Bono, "we would say we had bad luck and we would not be trying to hold on to what is ours," he says. "What it means to us is everything. It's everything that you work for...How could you not feel safe in our house? How could you not feel safe in your business, that one day the city, if they feel like putting something else there, could just take it away from you?," he asks, saying he should not be in the position of being forced to move his business.


http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/03/last-stand-battle-against-eminent-domain/

So in the US you never really 'own' property it would seem.

[tater]

Unreal.

Housing? Parks?

Eminent Domain should only be used for roads, storm barriers, etc. I'd not even allow it for a hospital, actually. It would have to be something that could not possibly go someplace else. If you are on the beach, and they need erosion control or the whole town suffers. Or if they must build a brige, and your site is the suitable location. This crap like "urban development? Nonsense. Buy the land, or work around the stuff you don't buy.

As for owning land, if you pay property tax, you don't really own the land, since failure to pay tax takes the land away. I've always thought property tax should be done ONCE at the time of purchase. It can be added to the mortgage since it would be a large sum. Once the mortgage and property tax is paid off, you'd own it free and clear. If the property transfers to a new owner they'd then re-access the property value based on the sale price, and do the tax. If you sell it to your kid for $1, then he pays tax on $1.

[Buddahaid]

In a story that looks like it was lifted from the EU or soviet block...




http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/03/last-stand-battle-against-eminent-domain/

So in the US you never really 'own' property it would seem.

That's right! Ever hear of Oak Ridge?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee

Starting in October 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers) began acquiring the Oak Ridge area for the Manhattan Project. Unlike TVA's land acquisitions for Norris Dam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norris_Dam)—which were still fresh on the minds of many Anderson Countians—the Corps' "declaration of taking" was much more swift and final. Many residents came home to find eviction notices tacked to their doors. Most were given six weeks to evacuate, although several had as little as two weeks. Some were even forced out before they received compensation. By March 1943, the area's pre-Manhattan Project communities had been removed, and fences and checkpoints had been established. Anderson County lost one-seventh of its land and $391,000 in annual property tax (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_tax) revenue. The manner with which the Oak Ridge area was acquired created a tense, uneasy relationship between Oak Ridge and the surrounding towns that lasted throughout the Manhattan Project.[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Ridge,_Tennessee#cite_note-7)