October 29, 2006

Another thing that has been brought to my attention several times is properties that are about to be sold because of unpaid taxes.  I find it unusual that a lot of the counties in Texas have websites that have information about the respective county governments, and many if not all of the ones that I checked have properties listed that are about to be sold for back taxes. Red River County is not among those with properties listed.  Why is that?

I have heard about a couple of pieces of property that were about to be brought for sale, that were purchased by officials located in government.  This is quite convenient for officials who go to the appraisal office frequently,  to find out what properties are about to be sold, and then to approach the owners of said property to "work out a deal" to purchase the property.  This is "profiting from their elected office."  I have talked about this in a past article, and have heard about it happening more than once.  Profiting from ones elected office is "against the law", and brings question about any official that would practice this method of acquiring property. 

This practice benefits the elected official, because they can purchase the property for less than it is worth, and then at some time in the future turn it around and sell it for many times what they purchased it for, gaining a hefty monetary sum for little to no trouble.  It is "illegal", and those involved in this practice should be removed from office, and possibly even prosecuted for gaining at the expense of the people who never get a chance to buy the properties in question.  By law these properties are supposed to be sold at auction.  I know this because I have been studying about title insurance, and have been attending seminars that talk about back taxes, and what is the legal way to sell them.

Short circuiting the process is not beneficial to anyone in the general public who has no way to find out about these properties until they are posted on the government notice location.  Finding out about these properties in advance benefits the elected official monetarily who purchases the property without it ever being sold at public auction, and also shorts the people of the county if it is a piece of land that could be purchased by the legal method of "sale on the courthouse steps".  It also shorts the owner of the property, because anything received above the debt goes to the owner.

This county needs to be cleaned up.  We all need to get involved and tell officials who are gaining monetarily from their elected office that enough is enough.  There are avenues that can be taken involving agencies outside this county where complaints can be filed about misconduct, depending on the official involved.  These avenues are not just criminal agencies either.

If we actually had a County Attorney who would do what is right rather than getting the justice system involved in "Civil Matters" that are not in the jurisdiction of the justice system, which opens the county to lawsuit, and thereby higher taxes to the people, we would all be better off.  "Civil Matters, do not belong in the justice system, but we seem to have a system that insists on sticking its nose into those matters even though it has no legal jurisdiction.   

You would think that they would learn, but they are too stupid to realize, or too stupid to care what they are doing.  There is no debtors prison in the United States!  As far as my knowledge as a private citizen people cannot be arrested for debt.  Owing money is a civil matter, from what I can see, is not a criminal offense.  Using this method to collect a debt is just another way the "GOB" system collects debts for its allies.  Oh well, lawsuits with large settlements for false arrest and prosecution against the County only hurt the people, and not the officials involved, unless they are sued individually, which can and does happen.  Our taxes increase to pay higher premiums on County Insurance because of stupidity.  All in all, it is no big deal........if you don't pay taxes.

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