Defenders of Tax Sale Practices Speak Out to Supreme Court

State and county governments, groups representing government officials, and two tax professors threw their weight behind a Minnesota county whose tax sale practices are at the heart of a US Supreme Court case.

Geraldine Tyler challenged Minnesota’s law allowing local governments to keep surplus proceeds when a homeowner’s property is sold to settle tax debts. Hennepin County kept the full $40,000 foreclosure sale price to satisfy Tyler’s $2,300 in delinquent taxes and $12,700 of accumulated interest and penalties.

The county pushed back on Tyler’s characterization of the transaction as an unconstitutional taking, arguing in its response brief that Tyler had ...