12 States Allow Home Equity ‘Theft’ Over Homeowners’ Tax Payment Shortfalls, Study Says

Christina M. Martin, senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, in a file photo. Courtesy of Pacific Legal Foundation

Twelve states and the District of Columbia allow local governments and private investors to seize dramatically more than what is owed from homeowners who fall behind on property tax payments, according to a new report.

The practice, which Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) calls “home equity theft,” is documented in what the organization bills as the first national study aimed at exposing “the injustice of home equity theft through tax foreclosure.”