Town is requesting to inspect inside my home for assessment. Need help!

[J’raxis 270145]

Amanuse: Unless they have a warrant to enter your home, they cannot. That doesn't mean that they won't try.  I had a different experience with Child Protective services. They wanted to enter my home because someone did not like the fact that we home schooled our children. Fortunately, we belong to a legal defense organization for homeschoolers.  Long and short of it, we were told by our attorney that under no circumstances were we to let them into our home. We invoked our 4th amendment rights.  Of course they tried to intimidate us into letting us in by threats and accusations.  They said that we must have something to hide by not letting them in. They totally ignored the fact that our Constitution guarantees that they have no right to enter our home. To deny them did not mean automatic guilt.  I think you have to stand on principal in this matter.  Once you let them in for one thing they can begin to create whatever circumstance they wish.  As to having a protest, I think your waisting your time. Our forefathers already protested for us by fighting and dying to secure our rights.  Don't let the beaureaucrats win this one.

And, remember to be consistent about denying the government entry to your home. If you let one government official in, now, and then decide to invoke your fourth-amendment rights next time he comes back, or the next time another one shows up, you're only giving them more justification to wonder what you're hiding. "Why'd you let us in last time? What are you hiding now?"

[CNHT]

Rainey, you assessment was likely based on the permit since it is new.

Go down and pull your assessment 'card' and review all the details to make sure they are correct and that they don't have you down for anything you don't have...

Otherwise you can file for an abatement. Does Rick tend to check these details out?

Thanks!   So I should go to the town hall and ask them to pull my assessment card, right?  Rick doesn't ever check this stuff out I handle these kind of things.  I just didn't know there was anything like this until now. 
In Maryland I know we had a lady that would come out every spring and just look at the outside of the house and leave.  So you mean make sure they don't have things down like we have a pool when we don't and stuff like that, right?

Yes exactly. The builder sometimes includes a lot of things in his permit, just so he won't have to go back again, but that doesn't mean the house had those things added to it.

[Dave Ridley]

i should be available to play youtube videographer but you never can be 100% sure of availability.
we have lots of video people in the keene area but not as many out here.

[Bald Eagle]

Hmmmm.  An October inspection.  You might want to crank the lawn sprinklers in the front yard WAY up and claim that the faucet is stuck.
You probably are a big slob and have lots of things to trip over, and you may have spilled some highly lachrymatory substance that you just can't get out of the carpet.   
Don't forget about those 1/2-million candlepower strobes you like to have in every room.

Sure, c'mon in, stay as long as you like.  Would you like a hot cup of ExLax cocoa? 

[EthanAllen]

It was also suggested to us that we don't because we do have nice antique furniture and were told by more then one person that often times the assessors will raise the value of your home based on how nice you keep it and on what kinds of things you own inside the house.

The assessment on the inside isn't based on antique furniture or antique rugs, art work, etc. that are removable in a sale as personal property but rather on things that are permanent like hardwood floors, kitchen cabinets, granite counters, fancy bathroom fixtures, etc. besides number of rooms, sq. ft., etc.

[amanuse]

I am confused by the comments of EthanAllen, in particular. I understand they are factual, to some degree, but it seems like the concepts of liberty and the Constitution are completely lost on him or her. Honestly, they are a little frustrating, as is this entire matter. I feel like I'm drowning somewhat in a sea of insanity that has been promulgated by the state and town government here.

Is it not clear to everyone here that the government should not be taxing us on any of the interior contents of our home, whether or not they are permanent fixtures? Is it not clear that the government should not be entering our homes without a warrant and probable cause?

Are there people involved in this forum that are not aligned with the ideals of the Free State Project? As a newcomer, I honestly don't know how this works. It just seems like some of the comments are coming from left field, or in other words, the mind of a statist.

The grand majority of the comments here have been helpful and I appreciate all efforts to further the cause of liberty in our lifetimes. My plan is to let the forum know the date and time of the unconstitutional inspection so everyone who can come and wants to come will come. I am now somewhat concerned at this point that some enemies of this strategy may also interfere. Do the friends of liberty have suggestions on how to avoid such secondary intrusion?

And for the record: I agree that the dunce cap may be going overboard. It was mostly meant as a light-hearted suggestion of how to really bring home the concept that this whole interior assessment is absurd. And if the assessor is scrupulous and chooses not to enter my home, then the members of the Fourth Amendment party can simply support his choice and praise him for his scruples. I certainly plan to present my letter of duress if he does enter, and I am sending letters to my state lawmakers either way. I hope all of you New Hampshire residents will do the same.

Here's to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness...

[J’raxis 270145]

I am confused by the comments of EthanAllen, in particular. I understand they are factual, to some degree, but it seems like the concepts of liberty and the Constitution are completely lost on him or her. Honestly, they are a little frustrating, as is this entire matter. I feel like I'm drowning somewhat in a sea of insanity that has been promulgated by the state and town government here.

EthanAllen is a troll.

[EthanAllen]

I am confused by the comments of EthanAllen, in particular. I understand they are factual, to some degree, but it seems like the concepts of liberty and the Constitution are completely lost on him or her. Honestly, they are a little frustrating, as is this entire matter. I feel like I'm drowning somewhat in a sea of insanity that has been promulgated by the state and town government here.

Is it not clear to everyone here that the government should not be taxing us on any of the interior contents of our home, whether or not they are permanent fixtures? Is it not clear that the government should not be entering our homes without a warrant and probable cause?

I believe the taxing of capital is immoral because it violates the absolute right of self-ownership of the owner of the capital who had to labor themselves or pay someone to produce the capital.

I believe the requiring of sharing the economic rent that attaches to all locations as the result of it's proximity to the labor and services of those who you exclude (backed by force) is just because it upholds the absolute right to self-ownership of the excluded. It does not violate the absolute right to self-ownership of the landowner because they by definition do not provide any labor towards the unimproved land value.

Are there people involved in this forum that are not aligned with the ideals of the Free State Project? As a newcomer, I honestly don't know how this works. It just seems like some of the comments are coming from left field, or in other words, the mind of a statist.

I am a left-libertarian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarianism

My definition of a statist comes from the grate libertarians Franz Oppenheimer, Albert J. Nock, and Frank Chodorov. A state hands out privileges to a certain class of people (a subset of the whole) without requiring any obligation to those the privilege excludes from the natural and social commons, backed by force. Local governances as legitimate agency requires an obligation in exchange for the privilege of exclusive use backed by force. This legitimate authority is a monopoly on force over a territory because the negative externalities that violate the absolute right of self-ownership of those being excluded who are in proximity, happens over a specific territory.

I am now somewhat concerned at this point that some enemies of this strategy may also interfere. Do the friends of liberty have suggestions on how to avoid such secondary intrusion?

What exactly are you referring to?

It was mostly meant as a light-hearted suggestion of how to really bring home the concept that this whole interior assessment is absurd.

Today our property tax is based on the market value of the buildings (capital) and the land value (economic rent). My proposal is to shift taxes off of buildings, so their would be no need to visually inspect the inside of the buildings, and onto the socially created land values - which the landowner contributes no labor towards it's creation but is provided by your neighbors labors as a positive externality.

Is this not working towards greater liberty based on the fundamental tenet of libertarianism, the absolute right of self-ownership?

[cathleeninnh]

We are a diverse bunch. And  principle purity will be debated forever. I wouldn't worry about a fellow porc interfering.

We have had many discussions about property tax and market value relevance, especially when it came to the "view tax". A search should bring up the threads.

Mostly we come to the conclusion that you must make your own call as to what is going too far and which battles you choose to fight. Let us know what assistance we can give you.

As I said before, I will show up if at all possible if you want to remind the assessor that it is an unwelcome intrusion.

Cathleen

[lildog]

It was also suggested to us that we don't because we do have nice antique furniture and were told by more then one person that often times the assessors will raise the value of your home based on how nice you keep it and on what kinds of things you own inside the house.

The assessment on the inside isn't based on antique furniture or antique rugs, art work, etc. that are removable in a sale as personal property but rather on things that are permanent like hardwood floors, kitchen cabinets, granite counters, fancy bathroom fixtures, etc. besides number of rooms, sq. ft., etc.

That may be right in theory but as was pointed out to me, some assessors do take things like furniture into account.  A bit of socialistic thinking... these folks are well off so they can afford a little higher taxes then someone else.

I guess this comes into play even more so when you talk about older homes who's values are very subjective.

[Beth221]

do what my parents do, push all the furniture in front of the windows, and say you just put down poly on the freshly sanded hardwood floors, and it cant be walked on.  then they cant really look in, and always have supplies outside to make it look like you were hard at work, takes 24 hours to dry and they dont usually come back. 

[CNHT]

Are there people involved in this forum that are not aligned with the ideals of the Free State Project? As a newcomer, I honestly don't know how this works. It just seems like some of the comments are coming from left field, or in other words, the mind of a statist.

Yes.

[amanuse]

I will state very clearly that I find the definition of "left-libertarian" a socialist's attempt to soften what he really is. You can't be both left and libertarian in my view. It's counterintuitive. The left-libertarian movement appears to be nothing short of socialism. Thanks for clearing this up for me.

So again, I'm not really here to debate whether my opinion on this matter is right, because I think it is and that's not going to change. I feel very strongly about my Constitutional rights and am very frustrated that more Americans don't feel the same way. The strict constructionist view of the Constitution is what drives my libertarianism.

Again, I'll let you know the next step in this debacle when I get to it. For the time being, I'm going to lay low until closer to my Oct. 15 deadline for responding to the town.

[Ogre]

You could always have a big party the day the assessor's planning on coming in.  Gee, if he can't get to the other rooms because there's just so many people in the way...oops!  And gee, when you open that door and find a couple in an embrace, he might quick close that door.  And hey, what's the sticky stuff spilled over there?  Be careful, watch your step.  Excuse me, there's another drunk stumbling around that doorway there (oh, is that him that smells so bad)?

[CNHT]

I will state very clearly that I find the definition of "left-libertarian" a socialist's attempt to soften what he really is. You can't be both left and libertarian in my view. It's counterintuitive. The left-libertarian movement appears to be nothing short of socialism. Thanks for clearing this up for me.