Property Tax

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let's say you and your three siblings own a large parcel of land that has been in your family for generations. You own 50% of the property, and the other half is split three ways: 25%, 20%, and 5%. Now let's say someone approaches the sibling who owns 5% and convinces them to sell their share. Imagine that once the transaction clears, the new owner decides to engineer a sale of the entire property to their friend for a price above what you and your family can pay, but well below the market value. They kick you all off the property and develop a resort and casino in the space. Does this seem fair?

Fair to you or not, the above scenario is within the bounds of the law in much of the United States. Known as a partition action, this legal maneuver has been used repeatedly over the past century to strip land from African Americans, largely in the south. A more egregious form of legal land theft has occurred under something called the Torrens Act, which has been co-opted by corporations and wealthy individuals to seize land from poor black families who are heirs' property owners. This is all detailed in a phenomenal piece of reporting last year from Lizzie Presser, The New Yorker, and ProPublica called "Kicked off the Land" https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/22/kicked-off-the-land. Here's an excerpt:

"[Heirs’ property is] a form of ownership in which descendants inherit an interest, like holding stock in a company. The practice began during Reconstruction, when many African-Americans didn’t have access to the legal system, and it continued through the Jim Crow era, when black communities were suspicious of white Southern courts. In the United States today, seventy-six per cent of African-Americans do not have a will, more than twice the percentage of white Americans. Many assume that not having a will keeps land in the family. In reality, it jeopardizes ownership. David Dietrich, a former co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Property Preservation Task Force, has called heirs’ property 'the worst problem you never heard of.' The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recognized it as 'the leading cause of Black involuntary land loss.'

Heirs’ property is estimated to make up more than a third of Southern black-owned land—3.5 million acres, worth more than twenty-eight billion dollars. These landowners are vulnerable to laws and loopholes that allow speculators and developers to acquire their property. Black families watch as their land is auctioned on courthouse steps or forced into a sale against their will. Between 1910 and 1997, African-Americans lost about ninety per cent of their farmland. This problem is a major contributor to America’s racial wealth gap; the median wealth among black families is about a tenth that of white families. Now, as reparations have become a subject of national debate, the issue of black land loss is receiving renewed attention. A group of economists and statisticians recently calculated that, since 1910, black families have been stripped of hundreds of billions of dollars because of lost land. Nathan Rosenberg, a lawyer and a researcher in the group, told me, 'If you want to understand wealth and inequality in this country, you have to understand black land loss.'"

Before 1910, black-owned land was mostly taken through violence and intimidation. Since then, the thieves have just found a more civil yet insidious way to accomplish the same result under the protection of the law. But it is just as wrong now as it was then.

So what does all this have to do with the Bible? Ask Naboth the Jezreelite. Naboth owned a vineyard, a vineyard that King Ahab coveted. 1 Kings 21:2-11 (NIV) tells us:

"Ahab said to Naboth, 'Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.' But Naboth replied, 'The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.'

So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, 'I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.' He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, 'Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?' He answered her, 'Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, "Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place." But he said, "I will not give you my vineyard."' Jezebel his wife said, 'Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.'

So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. In those letters she wrote: 'Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.'

So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them."

Naboth was killed by his fellow citizens and King Ahab seized the land "legally." However, God did not turn a blind eye to this savagery. He sent the prophet Elijah to deliver what was essentially a death sentence to Ahab and Jezebel as a direct result of their heinous act.

Do not think that just because sophisticated, 21st century land thieves are walking around freely, enjoying their ill-gotten wealth that God is somehow less displeased with their actions than He was with Ahab and Jezebel. They will be judged in due time. They may have effectively stolen the land, but there is a divine property tax coming. That's God's business, though -- vengeance is His (Romans 12:19).

So what can we as Christ-followers do in the meantime? Instead of directing godly anger or ungodly hatred toward the predatory land developers, I suggest we turn our empathy and support of the heirs' property into tangible action.

The Center for Heirs Property Preservation is "a 501(c)(3) non-profit that protects heirs' property and promotes its sustainable use to provide increased economic benefit to historically under-served families."

Consider giving a donation at https://www.heirsproperty.org/, and contact your local or state congressperson and hold them accountable on this issue.

Check out these articles for more information on what's happening in this space: Black Landowners Will Benefit From New Funding to Prevent Land Loss

Black Landowners Will Benefit From New Funding to Prevent Land Loss Lizzie Presser A year after a ProPublica story highlighted problems for landowners who passed down “heirs’ property” without wi... U.S. Senate Greenlights Funding to Help Prevent Families From Losing Their Land

U.S. Senate Greenlights Funding to Help Prevent Families From Losing The... Lizzie Presser A ProPublica-New Yorker story about black land loss was cited by the legislation’s sponsor before the near-unani... Partition of Heirs Property Act - Uniform Law Commission

Partition of Heirs Property Act - Uniform Law Commission

My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would inspire us to actively pursue justice in every way that Christ leads us.

God bless,

Lincoln