Originally Posted by MrSelfDestruct

I've said it in politics and I'll say it here: Any government official who for any reason short of averting a disaster orders a siezure of property through eminent domain should be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a sentence proportional to the value of the property siezed and the number of people affected. Any government official who supports eminent domain use to hand private property over to another private entity has violated the oath of office in which he or she promised to uphold the law of the land, and should be removed immediately for this failure. The fifth amendment explicitly forbids this injustice.

An unfortunate fact is that property tax allows this. As long as you are required to pay the government for the right to own private property, it isn't yours, you are renting it from them and they can sieze it at any time if they think that they can make more money from giving it to someone else.