- 23 Feb 2006 04:26
#816363
I've been recently been made aware of this issue and it continues to perplex me. I'm not certain about my stance on it, so maybe some discussion will clear things up.
Under the 5th amendment, the government can seize property, with just compensation, to use for the common good. Does this permit the government, federal, state, or local, to seize private property with monetary compensation and sell it to another private owner who may or may not make better use of the land?
The argument is that if I own a lakefront house and someone wants to build a condo on it, the government can take that land from me and then hand it over to the condo owner, who will pay more property taxes and thus benifit the "common good". This doesn't seem moral to me, but is it constitutional?
Sorry if this has been discussed before.
Under the 5th amendment, the government can seize property, with just compensation, to use for the common good. Does this permit the government, federal, state, or local, to seize private property with monetary compensation and sell it to another private owner who may or may not make better use of the land?
The argument is that if I own a lakefront house and someone wants to build a condo on it, the government can take that land from me and then hand it over to the condo owner, who will pay more property taxes and thus benifit the "common good". This doesn't seem moral to me, but is it constitutional?
Sorry if this has been discussed before.