Pung v. Isabella County · ¶25

This Court’s precedents applied the same rule. In United States v. Taylor, 104 U. S. 216 (1881), the Court held that federal law required the Government to issue a large refund following the tax sale of a property worth much more than the owner’s tax debt. There, the owner owed just $70.50 in taxes, and the Government sold the owner’s property for $3000. Id., at 217. The Court held that the taxpayer was legally entitled to the difference. Id., at 217, 222. Three years later, in United States v. Lawton, 110 U. S. 146 (1884), the Court recognized the constitutional dimension of the rule. “To withhold the surplus from the owner would be to violate the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and to deprive him of his property without due process of law, or to take his property for public use without just compensation.” Id., at 150. Thus, the Court held that the Government was required to refund…

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