I was at an event a while back and the topic of Property Taxes came up.  When you ask that question, you can get a lot of different answers, but I think Property Rights are as important as any of the other rights.  So, I think we should look to the Constitution for our answer.

I am going to use Minnesota as an example.  In the Constitution of the State of Minnesota, in the Bill of Rights, Section 15 states:

“Sec. 15. Lands allodial; void agricultural leases.

All lands within the state are allodial and feudal tenures of every description with all their incidents are prohibited. Leases and grants of agricultural lands for a longer period than 21 years reserving rent or service of any kind shall be void.”

The definition of allodial is: “Owned without obligation to another with superior rights; owned freely.” (Gilbert Law Dictionary 1997)

Section 15 mentions that feudal tenures “are prohibited.” The definition of tenure is: “Generally, the right to possess property.” (Gilbert Law Dictionary 1997)

The word “feudal” refers to the feudal system during the Middle Ages in England and Europe where the King owned all the property and he granted use of the property to Lords and other superiors, who then granted use of the land to tenants for money and services.

The point is the tenants could use the land, but they needed to get permission for what they did on the land from the superiors who the King granted use to the land.  The Minnesota State Constitution made the point that: “All lands within the state are allodial” so that we would know that individuals owned the land and that no one had “superior rights; owned freely.”

This does not prevent people from borrowing money and having whoever borrowed the money having right to the property because once the borrower is paid, the borrower no longer has right to the property.  The point is if you own it, it is yours.

This brings the question of how does the government charge a property tax for land that the Minnesota State Constitution says is “owned freely”?  If you ask anyone in government this question, the answer you get is, “They do it because they can.”  As with other violations of our rights, they will keep doing it as long as they can.

The people that decide if they can take the money, are the Judges who are paid by the money that is taken. That is the biggest part of the problem. There are way too many conflicts of interests for the people making these decisions to decide them fair and impartially.

As long as judges and other government agents interpret the laws and Constitution instead of obeying the laws and Constitution, they will continue to violate people’s rights.  What is needed is for people to realize that they are not voting for someone to rule over them, they are hiring someone to do a job by electing them.  The most important part of that job should be for them to obey the laws and the Constitution.

Article posted with permission from Sons of Liberty Media.  Article by Steve Richards.