Washington – The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts, ruled Wednesday that the government must make extra efforts to notify a homeowner before it sells off property for unpaid taxes.
The Constitution says the state may not take away a person’s property “without due process of law,” and Roberts said that meant officials “must take additional reasonable steps” to contact an owner before taking his property.
The ruling in an Arkansas dispute applies to all levels of government, from the Internal Revenue Service to local tax collectors.
The chief justice split with the court’s most conservative justices and with Bush administration lawyers, who said sending a letter was all that was required of the government, even if it wasn’t delivered.
The 5-3 decision is a victory for an Arkansas man who lost his house several years after he had paid off the mortgage. When his ex-wife failed to pay property taxes, the state moved to seize and sell the house.
Officials made no effort to contact the homeowner other than to send a certified letter that was returned undelivered.
In response to the returned letter, “the state did nothing,” Roberts said, showing an impatience with bureaucratic inertia.
They did not call the house, post a notice on the property or send a person to speak to the occupants, he said. They simply put a notice in the local newspaper and then sold the house at auction – for one-fourth its value.
Gary Jones, the homeowner, lived in an apartment in Little Rock, Ark., and first learned of the unpaid taxes and the state’s sale of his house when his daughter called to say she was being evicted.
Jones sued the state, but he lost in Arkansas state courts.
He appealed his case to the Supreme Court, contending the state’s action was unconstitutional.
Roberts joined the court’s four liberal justices in voting to reverse the state’s decision.
“In this case, the state is exerting extraordinary power against a property owner – taking and selling a house he owns,” he said.
The house sale in Arkansas was “caused by the property’s owner’s own failure to be a prudent ward of his interests,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent. “The meaning of the Constitution should not turn on the antics of tax evaders and scofflaws.”
Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy joined him in dissent.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. did not participate, because the case, Jones vs. Flowers, was argued before he was confirmed by the Senate.
The Bush administration joined the case on the side of Arkansas.
“Due process is satisfied when notice of an upcoming tax sale is sent by certified mail,” U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement said. Because Wednesday’s ruling interprets the Constitution, it applies in all states and at all levels of government.
