Page:Tyler v. Hennepin County.pdf/7

4 Stat. §281.18; County of Blue Earth v. Turtle, 593 N. W. 2d 258, 261 (Minn. App. 1999). That sale does not extinguish the taxpayer’s debts. Instead, the borrower remains personally liable. See St. Paul v. St. Anthony Flats Ltd. Partnership, 517 N. W. 2d 58, 62 (Minn. App. 1994). Had Tyler received the surplus from the tax sale, she could have at the very least used it to reduce any such liability.

At this initial stage of the case, Tyler need not definitively prove her injury or disprove the County’s defenses. She has plausibly pleaded on the face of her complaint that she suffered financial harm from the County’s action, and that is enough for now. See Lujan, 504 U. S., at 561.

The Takings Clause, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 5. States have long imposed taxes on property. Such taxes are not themselves a taking, but are a mandated “contribution from individuals … for the support of the government … for which they receive compensation in the protection which government affords.” County of Mobile v. Kimball, 102 U. S. 691, 703 (1881). In collecting these taxes, the State may impose interest and late fees. It may also seize and sell property, including land, to recover the amount owed. See Jones v. Flowers, 547 U. S. 220, 234 (2006). Here there was money remaining after Tyler’s home was seized and sold by the County to satisfy her past due taxes, along with the costs of collecting them. The question is whether that remaining value is property under the Takings Clause, protected from uncompensated appropriation by the State.

The Takings Clause does not itself define property. Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation, 524 U. S. 156, 164