Whose money is it, anyway? Look at it. Is your name there? No. It says UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Not your money. Must be theirs.

The facts are, that you do not have property rights. Property taxes, HOA fees and other regulations have taken them from you. If can not pay the tax, HOA free, or fall in line with their regulations, the authorities have given themselves permission to steal your property.

I'll just say no.
How much is a lot of money is a relative thing.
So are hiding places.

"You have the right to remain silent...."

Carrying too much (?) money is probable cause - of something. Right?

NM actually passed a law about doing away with Civil Asset Forfeiture. It upset some, especially in Dona Ana County (Las Cruces area) in southern NM. That area is just north of El Paso, TX and Fort Bliss, but it is also where I-10 and I-25 meet, so it is a hot bed of drug and illegal trafficking.

The answer was summed up on a bumper sticker I once displayed: You Own Your Property or You ARE the Property. But people would ask me what it meant.
FWIW, our county Republican Party recently put civil asset forfeiture at the top of its issues priority list.

Ad-Valorem

Until ANY and ALL Ad-Valorm taxes are completely done away with YOU HAVE NO REAL PROPERTY RIGHTS!!!

You are only "renting" from the Government, be it local, country state or federal.

Most Ad-Valorem are local, county and state.

I would like to point out that many of these cases I read are happening in NM! If you live there I encourage you to contact your reps and senators. What a corrupt state! Do not galt there!

I echo Zen's comments on this.

There's just something deeply wrong when a cop on his own with no immediate review, or a prosecutor filing charges even before probable cause hearing can seize property including homes, cars, planes, furnishings, cash during a traffic stop, etc. and then rely on a lengthy, messy, and extremely costly process to dissuade a citizen from even trying to get it back. Even denying the use of a person's assets to use in his defense at trial, if the charges ever get to trial.

And then to conclude as Norquist does: ""This is an assault on property rights," Norquist said. "It unites folks on the right and left, and it's one of those issues in the next several years that we can get something done." (emphasis added)

How many lives can they continue to ruin in the next several years, and instead of get something done at that point sometime in the future, why not now. Or is this just another pandering bit to disappear after the next election as most of these types of responses are.

I don't think it's much of a stretch to think that the powers-that-be want a cash-less society. For our security, you understand. Think of the financial savings of not having to print that dirty money, not to mention the health benefits of not spreading disease with said unsterile money! Of course, the whole thing could be administered by the IRS, as they have so much experience keeping track of things.

Bah!