Jefferson County, Colorado, Requires Home Searches

Oatka

New member
The next "model law" to be implemented? Looks like a not-too-subtle way to identify gun owners.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a394a48692f66.htm#1

According to Jefferson County property tax assessors, they are now conducting assessments of property values (read: homes) by examining the inside of people's homes, not just the outside.

A letter has been sent and received by JeffCo residents notifying them that their homes will be inspected and you must let the inspectors into your home. The inspection is stated as for the purpose of assessing the property.

This has never been done before, so a friend of mine, who has lived in JeffCo for years, asked the JeffCo assessors office under which Colorado Revised Statute (CRS) was this now being implemented. The person responded "39-5-101".

Here is CRS 39-5-101:

"39-5-101. Duties of assessor. The assessor shall list all taxable real and personal property located within his county on the assessment date, other than that comprising the property and plant of public utilities."

JeffCo is very anti-gun and is considered hostile towards gun owners. Remember Columbine? Jefferson County.

I live in Douglas County and my tax assessment did not, and has not for years, required an invasion of my home, and the tax assessment of the value of my home has been fair to me and the county.

Is this Jefferson County invasion a peek at your home for counting who has guns? Maybe this is a stretch, but why does JeffCo now want to inspect the inside of your home?

I believe this "assessment" violate various Constitutional and federal and state laws, including undue search.



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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
 
Jeez, like tax assessors aren't just above puppy-killers at the pound on the scale of evilness...

(shuck-shack) Assess THIS, mutha$(#)%_NO CARRIER...
 
Un friggin believeable!!

I don't even know what I would do if they wanted to search my home for taxable assets.

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Thane (NRA GOA JPFO SAF CAN)
MD C.A.N.OP
tbellomo@home.com
http://homes.acmecity.com/thematrix/digital/237/cansite/can.html
www.members.home.net/tbellomo/tbellomo/index.htm
"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression.
In both instances there is a twilight when everything remains
seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all
must be most aware of change in the air - however slight -
lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
--Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
 
I remember a few years back in (I think) Rockdale County, Georgia, we had the same thing. Some sort of in-house inspection. We don't have particularly anti-gun counties around here, but the measure was not well received.
 
Greedy politicians want to put their hand even deeper into your pockets.
It seems that they can't get enough of your money by just assessing the outside of your home but now need to look inside to see if you have any nice stuff to assess for even more.

And, if they should happen to see any firearms while they are there, you can be sure they will try to find a way to use it in a court of law against you.
 
The assessors have done this where I live for property tax re-evalution purposes. However, it was not necessary to let them in. They could take the rough square footage from outside the home. I think they used some kind of fixed formula for finished basements and the like. Virtually no one let them enter their homes here.

Sounds like a 4th Amendment situation you got there.

Unless you have some kind of luxury tax on big ticket items, why do they need to gain entry to your home?

Sounds fishy.
 
Disclaimer: I do not vouch for the accuracy of this post in any shape, size or form.

I seem to recall conversations from my childhood wherein relatives who lived in Indiana during their childhood, remembered hauling the "good furniture" out to the barn and hauling in the "tax furniture" for the assessor to see. Anybody else remember something like this? Like a lot of things this may not actually be a new idea.
 
Any ideas on creative legal ways of discouraging the tax assessors from coming in (vicious "undisciplined" indoor dogs come to mind but that isn't subtle)?
 
Creative *and* legal?

How about answering the knock with "Until you have a search warrant for this address, I will not allow to to enter. You are trespassing on private property and are hereby warned to leave immediately. If you do not comply, I will respond in an appropriate manner."

Say all this in the most deadpan, monotone voice you can manage, complete with thousand-yard-stare. That oughta make The Taxman a bit nervous. :)
 
Guess I'd never given this too much thought, since we had an assessor come through our house just after we bought it. I got to see his sheet, and it noted number of rooms and condition. Now, with all the work I've done on the place, I don't want them back in.

Looks like I've been "conditioned" too well.

Dick
 
Catch-22: the authorities can do anything they can get away with.

This particular proposal is unquivocally insane, not to mention totalitarian. Nothing--and certainly nothing in the tax system--is worth the loss of privacy and individual freedom that results from such intrusiveness. :mad:

[This message has been edited by jimmy (edited June 17, 2000).]
 
You know, when we first rented the house we're living in now (we bought it later), a couple months later the assessor arrived on the doorstep looking to come in. We didn't allow it, and called the bank who leased us the house. They told us that we'd have to allow him in, which we did. (After all, we didn't own the property, and we had a 24 hour advance notice).

Now, however, the situation has changed. No assessor will ever be granted entrance into my home without a warrant and a uniformed officer at their side. End of story.
 
Now suppose I was buck naked since my home is my castle ? Now suppose this stranger excites me ? I know it's stupid but so is this law . In South Dakota folks had to pay taxes on their possessions in the house . But they took your word for it . As far as modifications making the house worth more they should know from the permit that was issued so the improvements could be done . I don't know what it is but I know it's only a beginning .

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TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA
 
About 20 years ago in St Clair County IL they tried a similar thing. Special assesors were hired (from the public aid roles no less) and they drove around the county checking property. I lived on a busy state highway at the time, answered the door with a 1911 in my waistband, (we had had some home invasions in the area). The assesor declined to ask for entry at that point. He did ask if we still had a basement (it was a walk in basement so he shouldn't have needed to ask). I was tempted to tell him I got tired of it and sold it. :)

Jeff
 
Who passed these unConstitutional, communistnazi laws, in the first place. Perhaps someone should send the pus filled maggots, aka, politicians, a copy of "Unintended Consequences."

Just a suggestion. J.B.
 
Perhaps you should just ask their name and badge number and then tell them you will be including them as a corespondent in your civil rights lawsuit.

You might also ask for their home address and tell them you will be by tomorrow to inspect their home and go through their underwear drawer and to consider this their obligatory 24-hour notice.

The gun count is a bit of a stretch, though.

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Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.
 
This is so crazy I can't believe it. What is next, tax your thoughts?

Even us LEOs need to get a warrant before we come crashing in. ;) Seriously though, this can't be legal. I can see it now, tax assessors with MP5s and no knocks.

Didn't we have a little skirmish in this country a few years back to solve these taxation problems?

[This message has been edited by mrat (edited June 18, 2000).]
 
You have constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. Tell them you want to see their search warrant authorizing such a search.
 
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