It is my belief that Eminent Domain is routinely abused by local and state governments and there should be national laws that restrict it’s use but also that require property owners to be paid 10x’s the market value whenever it is necessary to take someone’s property. While there are times that Eminent Domain is necessary because of problems and projects that have no other way forward, we must first and foremost deny all Eminent Domain requests made by private businesses. In this country, no business should have power over an individual citizen’s property. In cases where roads or other government projects must take place in order to avoid a major disruption in the functioning of the local society then the property owners who are being displaced must be paid 10x’s what the property value is currently or what the property’s value is expected to be in ten years time whichever is greater. This will also help us maintain our farmlands as many local governments and industries consider farmland as “vacant land” and nothing could be further from the truth.
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No. Abolish in entirely. There is NO provision in the Constitution for eminent domain. Land must be purchased at fair market value. This means that the citizen has the right to reject that offer and refuse to sell. That right must be respected. The use of the word NO must be respected by government, companies and corporations regardless of the implications for anyone, anywhere, at any time. Pipeline re-routing is a common excuse for the seizure of land in this manner. “It will cost too much to go around them.” That’s not the problem of the private land owner. They said no and that’s the end of that conversation.
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