- Your
tax dollars at work
- Feds grab 2
private homes in county
- YAKIMA (Tuesday,
7-27-99)--Assessor records indicate the
Internal
Revenue
Service
grabbed and currently owns two properties in Yakima
County.
-
- If history holds true,
the two properties will be auctioned at below-book
prices, with the loot forwarded to Washington, D.C.,
after the sale is made.
-
- The properties include
2300 River Road #15 (condo) and 1515 Riverside Rd.,
both Yakima homes that used to be owned by fellow
Americans. The parcel numbers are 181314/12423 and
191328/41011 respectively, according to county
records.
-
- Before County Assessor
Dave Cook removed a surname-database mode from the
county's online mapping program, it was a cinch to
uncover property ownerships by the name of the owner.
All one had to do was type in, for example, "Internal
Revenue Service," and bingo, the online info was
known.
-
- But Cook--because local
feds demanded it and because he was influenced by a
similar knuckle-under decision in Democrat-infested
Thurston County--removed the online data mode for
Yakima County. Cook, a Republican, legally did not
have to submit to this pressure; it was his personal
choice.
-
- Nevertheless, no one can
hide the information from the public.
-
- Those who want to know
what properties are owned by, for example, the IRS,
can still invoke RCW 42.17 at the assessor's
office and
request the information in person, by mail, or by
phone and FAX.
-
- Those who want to know
what liens have been filed by, for example, the IRS,
on one of the county's 95,000 properties can check
with staff at the county auditor's
office.
-
- And those who want to
know who bought the property after the IRS "liberated"
it from a pesky citizen can get the parcel number and
check in the county
treasurer's
office.
-
- Good
hunting.
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