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Constitutional, Legal, and Economic Indictment of Property Taxation Based on “Market Value”
- NH Muckraker
- 12 hours ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 11 hours ago
Constitutional, Legal, and Economic Indictment of Property Taxation Based on “Market Value”
The current system of property taxation—specifically the use of so-called “market value” by Assessors—is unconstitutional, unjust, and mathematically indefensible. It operates by taxing citizens on a fictional amount of income that does not exist, as though a property has been sold when it has not. This is, in effect, the taxation of unrealized gains, something expressly prohibited in both constitutional principle and valuation law.
1. Why This Is Unconstitutional?
The U.S. Constitution and state constitutions draw a clear distinction between ownership and realization. A tax imposed on value that has not been realized as income violates:
Due Process: Citizens are deprived of property based on hypothetical transactions that never occurred.
Uniformity and Equal Protection: Assessments are manipulated disproportionally to meet budgetary needs, not actual market evidence, resulting in unequal and arbitrary taxation.
Takings Principles: When taxes are based on fictional gains rather than actual income or transactions, the government effectively seizes private property without just compensation.
Taxing someone as if they sold their home—when they did not—is not taxation; it is confiscation through fiction.
2. Why It Is Unjust and Fraudulent?
This system violates USPAP (Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice) by reversing the appraisal process: Values are not derived from lawful market analysis.
Instead, pre-determined government budgets dictate values. The assessment is then retrofitted to justify the number. This is not error or negligence—it is intentional misapplication of valuation law, and it constitutes institutional fraud.
3. Why It Is Economically Unrealistic and Dangerous?
“Market value” is a theoretical concept that only becomes real at the moment of sale. Until then: There is no cash, No profit. No income, No realized gain. Yet homeowners and businesses are taxed annually as though the gain already exists, forcing them to pay real dollars on imaginary wealth. The math is devastating and unavoidable: As taxes rise faster than income, ownership becomes irrational. Risk overtakes reward. Defaults increase. Foreclosures follow. Mortgage holders, bond investors, pensions, and 401(k)s are destabilized. This creates a domino effect of bankruptcies that will ripple through the entire financial system. If not stopped, this model will: Make homeownership impossible for working families, destroy the economic logic of commercial property ownership, undermine retirement systems dependent on real estate-backed securities, and erode the foundation of everyday American life.
4. The Solution: Repeal Property Tax, Restore Constitutional Order
The only mathematically and constitutionally sound solution is the repeal of real estate taxation and its replacement with a Uniform State Sales Tax, which: Taxes actual transactions, not fictional values. Respects realization principles. Eliminates appraisal fraud. Restores transparency and fairness
Credit Where It Is Due
This analysis, data, and mathematical-legal framework have been developed and advanced by Mitch Vexler of Mockingbird Properties, Texas, whose work exposes how appraisal (assessing) districts weaponize “market value” to fund unlawful taxation schemes. Vexler has already communicated these findings directly to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. This issue is known at the highest levels. What remains is the political and legal courage to act. The laws are clear. The math is clear. The damage is already happening. What is being taxed does not exist—and a government that taxes fiction destroys reality.
