Detroit Justice Center Community Legal Worker Sonja Bonnett with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
Last week, Sonja Bonnett spoke beautifully at The Coalition for Property Tax Justice’s rally about the struggle Black Detroiters have faced in light of the illegal tax foreclosures across the city. During the rally, the coalition also announced that it had filed a class-action lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit takes on the city for failing to send property tax assessments to Detroit residents with enough time for them to appeal over-assessments in 2017.
If you missed the coverage last week, Sonja was featured in reports from Michigan NPR, The Detroit Free Press, Fox 2 News, and Democracy Now!. While we are still currently assisting people with their current year tax assessments, we should also make clear that we aren’t involved in the lawsuit, and unfortunately don’t know of any other route for Detroiters to be paid back for being overtaxed. As our Community Legal Workers continue to walk residents through this process, we hope that new avenues will open up for Detroiters to receive justice for over-taxation.