Left with Nothing

Does anyone have any idea how much it costs a traditional newspaper to produce an article like this? They've listed 15 people in the "Credits" section at the bottom. Seems cost-prohibitive.

Written by Michael Sallah, Debbie Cenziper, Steven Rich / Graphics by Ted Mellnik, Emily Chow, Laura Stanton / Photos by Michael S. Williamson / Editing by Jeff Leen, Steven Kress / Research by Jennifer Jenkins / Production by Chris George, Connor Jennings, Bronwen Latimer, Michelle Williams, Tim Wong

Edit: clarity

Apparently he owned this 197k property? Why didn't he borrow money against it or sell it? Did somebody really just take the house, sell it for say 197k to pay his 134 dollar bill? Sounds weird if this is possible. Probably he didn't own his house (even though it is stated in the article that he had bought it with cash earlier), I don't know why they could else foreclose on it. I mean creditors don't have the right to your property if you just owe them money (it may be possible for them to force you to sell your property to pay off debts, but you get to keep the money left over)?

And yet I still see people saying "no, how dare you compare government to a bunch of thieves?".

"All because he didn’t pay a $134 property tax bill." [1]

What is the scope of the problem here?

Ok:

"Others weren’t as lucky. Tax lien purchasers have foreclosed on nearly 200 houses since 2005 and are now pressing to take 1,200 more, many owned free and clear by families for generations."

Out of home many?

"The retired Marine sergeant lost his house "

Obligatory "and he was a good guy who fought for his country" added in for extra emotion (in addition the picture of course of a respectable citizen).

All this is sad and most certainly an interesting read. But it seems more suite for Taibbi in Rolling Stone.

Would be nice if in addition to writing emotional appeals they enlisted the help of someone (say a think tank) that could do further analysis and come up with some suggestions as far as reform that are backed up by research and in writing.

[1] Noting that this dates back to 2006 and yes if you ignore simple notices bad things happen. Don't pay your insurance bill? You won't have insurance if there is a fire. Etc.

Can someone point me to the laws and regulations that allow this? Someone who owns their home completely (with no mortgage) can lose the entirety of the home due to unpaid taxes? Even if the value of the home far exceeds the tax debt?

This is mindboggling to me.