Tuesday, June 28, 2005
I'm not really sure the general population "gets it" when it comes to this emminent domain issue. What happened last week with the supreme court allowing eminent domain to be used by a city is a farce. The city seized property in the name of eminent domain which by virtue of it operation should give this property to a governmental body to be used for the good of the community by way of creating a facility needed by the community. At least that's the way I've always understood eminent domain to work...it's not supposed to take a piece of distressed property which is privately owned and seize it by the government and then give it back to a private party. But this is exactly what has happened. The government took the property from a private entity and gave it to another private entity which promised a great TAX REVENUE TO THE GOVERNMENT THAT SEIZED THE PROPERTY. To me, this is the government stealing from the private sector to enrichen the value of another private entity. This, by operation of our own laws and rights is a violation of those very rights. Should I offer to double my property tax if my local government takes my neighbors property and donates it to me? Why not?
