Page 9 - Eric Sabree News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

This year, the Wayne County Treasurer's office is expected to continue tax foreclosures after March 31. People are encouraged to get on payment plans.

Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies.

(Bloomberg) -- Trinity Smith lost her home in Detroit because of unfairly high property taxes—and in the process, she handed over thousands of dollars to a multibillion-dollar money machine that benefits real estate speculators, big banks and the county government that foreclosed on her.

Nationwide data show that much of the debt that’s being sold never should have existed in the first place.

Wayne County, Michigan's use of Delinquent Tax Anticipation Notes is an extreme example of a nationwide phenomenon: Local officials use fines and foreclosures or tax lien sales as cudgels against people who haven’t paid their property taxes. Some municipalities’ efforts to securitize or sell the debts have led to a broad, upward transfer of wealth that’s rooted in fundamentally unfair tax systems.