Can Government Control Get Any Worse?

Yes It Can!

Do you want your local Tax Assessor coming into your private home to perform an inspection of your personal property?  Well, that is exactly what the citizens, or should we call them, “Subjects,” of the Town of Mansfield, Massachusetts must do.

In a letter from the Board of Assessors (redacted picture enclosed to protect those brave folks willing to disclose the letter) dated October 23, 2013, the Assistant Assessor, Nancy L. Hinote, states, “… the assessment process requires that all dwellings within the town be measured and inspected.”  Can’t they obtain the measurements from building constructions records?  The letter continues, “The Town has hired the appraisal firm of Vision Government Solutions to assist in this task.”  Who or what is Vision Government Solutions (VGS)?

At its website, Vision Government Solutions claims to be a leading supplier of land-parcel management, software technology, and services to local government organizations, enabling efficient assessment, billing, collections, mapping, and permitting.  It is a private company that does not appear to be regulated by any government agency, including the one that hired it to perform legalized home invasions.  I wonder if the contract to perform the inspections resulted from, “Crony Capitalism,” or an open-bid competition, which is the best way to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent equitably and prudently, not for political payback.

After letting the recipient know they have five days from the date of the letter to schedule an inspection of, “the interior of your property,” Ms. Hinote informs the owners that, “The data collectors will carry photo identification…”  In addition, she suggests that, “…homeowners request identification before granting anyone permission to enter their home.”  How nice?

If the, “Surfs,” of Mansfield do not cooperate, their property will receive the maximum assessment, which translates into higher property taxes.  To avoid this abuse, one must submit to the inspection.  Once in, if personal property is discovered in your back yard, like a clothesline, they will add it to the assessment for taxation purposes.

Totalitarian tyranny is easy to identify when it comes from the point of a gun.  It is more subtle when it is disguised as, “The Rule of Law.”  It is only a matter of time before this constitutional violation of privacy comes to your neighborhood.  These progressive polices have mastered the evil of using the power of persuasion and when that doesn’t work to their satisfaction, or fails on its merits, they resort to the persuasion of power.  The power to tax is the power to destroy.