I became aware of this drive a few days ago but decided to wait until the actual anniversary to put up some of what these fine folks from the Institute for Justice have to say:
Three years ago this Monday, June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New London, Conn., could take Susette’s little pink cottage in order to try to generate more tax revenue.
Now three years after the decision and $78 million in taxpayer dollars later, nothing has happened with the land. All that’s left are brown, barren fields.
Yet the travesty here is not only that the lives of Susette and her neighbors were unnecessarily uprooted, but that this type of thing is happening all over the country.
Don’t let the fights of these courageous individuals go in vain!
We need 10,000 people to go to www.ij.org/keloday and pledge to make a small donation – just $5 or $10 – to the Institute for Justice this coming Monday, June 23. This will send a message to policymakers and the media that our homes and businesses are not political capital that can be bandied about for personal and political gain. (Emphasis in orginal.)
Is the blockquote a blatant appeal for money? Of course it is. But this group and its subsidiary, the Castle Coalition, work as a team to fight the lure of an easy tax base increase which compels communities to throw one set of landowners (usually poor or working class types) under the bus for another set of landowners (generally well-heeled developers) who promise to build out the plot of land and increase municpal tax revenue. Certainly I’m all for capitalism but there’s a reason eminent domain exists – to give a property owner whose land is deemed to be suitable and needed for a public use a fair assessment and hearing about assigning a value to what they’re having taken. Until recent years eminent domain was generally used to build out transportation infrastructure; now cities are taking a more aggressive approach to the practice in order to firm up their tax rolls.
In the first months after the Kelo decision was laid down, several states responded by cracking down on the practice of taking land solely for enhancing tax revenue. (At last check about a year ago, Maryland had a low grade on their eminent domain law, while Delaware was even worse. You can check your state’s grade here.) But other issues have moved to the fore and private property rights have slipped backwards on the priority list. It’s still a priority issue for me though so I’m happy to help out and contribute a few dollars to the cause.
We all work hard to acquire what we own, and to many their property has a value which makes it irreplaceable to them. Progress doesn’t have to come at the price of freedom and liberty.
