Municipal Groups Back Michigan County in Top Court Tax Sale Case

Requiring counties to pay tax debtors the full market value of their properties would create substantial administrative burdens and destabilize the foreclosure system, groups supporting a Michigan county told the US Supreme Court.

The estate of a former property owner wants the justices to define “just compensation” under the US Constitution’s takings clause in this context based not on the price a tax-foreclosed house sells for at auction, but on the price it would sell for on the open market. But that reads too much into the court’s 2023 Tyler v. Hennepin County ruling that property owners are entitled to ...