Mass. judge rules that state’s method of taking property for unpaid taxes is unconstitutional

The ruling comes in the wake of a unanimous US Supreme Court decision last year that said municipal and county governments may only recover the taxes owed, and not seize the remaining equity in the property. For the first time, a Massachusetts court has ruled that the way some municipalities pursue tax-taking cases against homeowners — a practice critics call “equity theft” — is unconstitutional. Massachusetts is one of only a handful of states that presently allow local governments to take not only the taxes they are owed (plus interest...