Dont let go of the family at the center of yesterday's Supreme Court property tax ruling.
In 1991, Scott Pung bought a small three-bedroom home on half an acre for his wife and two children. It was their family home. When Scott died in 2004, his wife stayed there. When she died in 2008, their son and his family stayed. Same home, same family, more than two decades.
The whole time, it was their primary residence, taxed at the lower rate Michigan gives a family home. Then in 2010 an assessor decided, wrongly, that they should be taxed as if it were a second home. The family took it to court and won. The tribunal ruled they did not owe it.
The assessor's response, in her own words about the judge who ruled for the family: "I don't care what he says." She imposed the tax again. She left it off the original bill and added it later. When the family came in to pay, they brought a driver's license to prove it was their home, and paid what they actually owed.
It did not matter. Over roughly $2,242 that they did not owe and had already beaten in court, the county foreclosed. A trial court tried to give the home back over a notice failure. The county appealed to stop that. In 2018, after 27 years, the family permanently lost the home Scott Pung bought in 1991.
This is what the property tax can do. Not in theory. To a real family, over a bill that was never owed, because one official decided she did not care what the court said. And the Supreme Court said the Constitution will not make that family whole.
I reached out to the Pung family, and they gave me their blessing to share their story and this photo. My thanks to them, and my respect for the fight they carried all the way to the highest court in the land. It will help families they will never meet.
This is exactly why we are working to end the tax that made it possible.
Photo of Marc and Tia Pung at the U.S. Supreme Court, shared with their permission.
I'LL SAY IT AGAIN:
IT SHOULD BE ILLEGAL to charge a "convenience fee" for paying a bill online. The convenience is for the company. The fee is for you.
Imagine being forced to give someone 6.2% of your paycheck, every single check, every month, for 30 to 50 years of your life.
And that person said, "Don't worry, I'm holding this for you and will pay it back to you on a monthly basis, when you retire at 65."
And then they said, "Nah, just kidding. I meant when you retire at 67. And at that time, I'll only give you 70% of what you paid me."
And then they said, "Oops, I spent all your money. You're out of luck."
That's the U.S. government.
This is a disgrace.
A Gulf War Marine veteran named Albert O’Toole who served this country, took a blast that left him with TBI, and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s was beaten by his aide Matthew Cox inside the New York State Veterans Home in Montrose, New York.
His wife Angela Sangro became concerned after seeing unexplained bruises and heavy sedation. She installed a hidden camera. The footage shows the aide yanking food out of Albert’s hands, grabbing him by the neck, throwing him into a chair, punching him, and striking him in the head with a broom while he cried out in pain. No one came to help.
The state fired the abuser.
But the federal VA? Still has him employed. Still paying him while the case drags on.
You make veterans fight through hell just to get the benefits and compensation they earned with their blood and sacrifice. You move fast to cut or reduce what’s owed to them.
But when one of your own is caught on camera assaulting a defenseless veteran? You keep him on the federal payroll like it’s nothing.
@SecVetAffairs you talk about accountability. Here it is. Fire this man from the VA now. No pay. No protection. No more dragging it out.
@SecWar our warriors come home broken from fighting for this nation. They deserve better than a system that protects abusers while making veterans fight for every dollar they earned.
@SpeakerJohnson this is on you too. Oversight without teeth is just theater. Do your job.
This isn’t how you treat the men and women who served. This is a betrayal.
Veterans FIRST.
Zero tolerance for those who abuse them.
Immediate action. No excuses.
If you’re not outraged by this, you’re not paying attention.
Semper Fi.
@TheTankGuns
Danielle went to a hospital for a cough. 41 days later, she was dead. The hospital claimed she had COVID, put her on Remdesivir & 32 days on a ventilator. She had 5x more fentanyl in her system than reported in George Floyd.
Her mom is suing for homicide.
25 years ago, 90% of Republicans were proud or extremely proud to be American. 87% of Democrats felt the same way.
25 years later, 92% of Republicans are proud to be Americans. Just 36% of Democrats feel the same way.
It's not an exaggeration to say the left hates America.
If MREs are good enough for our troops, why not for welfare?
What if EBT was replaced with monthly MRE deliveries,
8 cases per person. No misuse. No luxury. Just food.
Needs met. Problem solved!
🚨GUILTY VERDICT: In Oregon, rainwater falling on your own land doesn’t actually belong to you.
Gary Harrington built 3 reservoirs on his 170-acre property to collect rainwater & snowmelt for fire protection.
The state demanded he drain every drop. “All water belongs to us.”
He refused.
They hit him with 9 misdemeanors, jailed him for 30 days, and fined him more than $15,000.
This is government claiming ownership of the sky.
What’s next — your air? Your soil?
Actually… yes. 👇
Bought a $1,742.80 camera online from BestBuy.
The FedEx delivery driver stole it. FedEx admitted it.
But BestBuy won’t give a refund. They said we need to “work with local law enforcement.”
Thought everyone should know if you buy from @BestBuy and a @FedEx driver steals what you paid for, your money is gone. Neither company will make it right.
I’ve spent over $30K at BestBuy and will never spend another penny there.
🚨Update🚨
@FDSportsbook@FanDuel_Support is doubling down on not paying out Shane Van Gisbergen Top 5 from this past Sunday’s #NASCAR race. There is no such thing as podium presentations in NASCAR & there were no disqualifications & nor was SVG ever “officially” scored 7th, you literally graded the bets based on Prime incorrectly displaying the results for a brief moment. If you want to look at official results NASCAR officially scored him 5th & was listed in 5th on NASCARs official timing & scoring at the end of the race.
DO THE RIGHT THING & pay out the wagers & while you’re at it please rewrite your house rules to better apply them to NASCAR.
As of June 2nd, only NINE NFL teams have NOT made posts about pride month. Those teams are:
-Dallas Cowboys
-New Orleans Saints
-Cincinnati Bengals
-Cleveland Browns
-Kansas City Chiefs
-Las Vegas Raiders
-New York Jets
-Pittsburgh Steelers
-Tennessee Titans
Props to these teams for not capitulating to the gender cult mob!
I regret to inform @WisDems that you cannot milk a bull.
But considering they think men can get pregnant, I guess thinking you can milk a bull tracks too.
🚨 BREAKING: The employee of Gov. Tim Walz who keyed SIX Teslas causing over **$20,000** in damage in retaliation against @ElonMusk has been given a ONE DAY SUSPENSION from his Minnesota government job
THAT’S IT. He’s not even being PROSECUTED.
Minnesota is a FAILED STATE!
FOLLOW ME, THE NEXT DROP WILL BE SHOCKING
🚨 This is EXACTLY WHY ICE agents are FORCED to wear masks
ICE Newark rioter: “I HAVE YOUR FACE, MOTHERF***ER”
“Your WHOLE F***ING FAMILY is DEAD!”
“Your KIDS. Your WIFE. ALL DEAD!”
This is the type of TERRORISM Democrats WANT ICE agents to face by de-masking them
For anyone who’s ever faced a personal challenge, it doesn’t get much better than the 'Six Minutes' speech in VISION QUEST. This scene wasn’t in the 1979 novel by Terry Davis. Elmo's monologue was written specifically for the film by screenwriter Darryl Ponicsan (THE LAST DETAIL, TAPS). Actor J. C. Quinn absolutely knocks it out of the park here.
If you’d like to support the @FMJDiary project, you can bid on an original poster below. I signed and inscribed it with Elmo’s iconic line: “It ain't the six minutes... it's what happens in that six minutes.”
https://t.co/XnTfgkePdE