A Massachusetts woman is challenging a state law that allowed the government and a private investor to take her home and all her equity over a debt that was just 10 percent of the property’s value.

“In Massachusetts and 12 other states, the government can take your property for a tax debt and foreclose on it and keep the entire value of the property no matter how small the tax debt, no matter how valuable the property,” says attorney Joshua Polk of Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), the law firm representing Deborah Foss of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Foss fell behind on her taxes in 2016. She didn’t owe much, about $3600. Still, the city put a tax lien on her property.

“What that means is the holder of the tax lien has the right to collect on the debt at a 16% interest or foreclose on the property and take the entire value of the property if the payer doesn’t pay the debt before the foreclosure,” says Polk. “In Massachusetts, the government can sell that lien the right to collect payment, the right to foreclose, to a private investor and that is exactly what happened here.”

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