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Takings

Fair Market Value Compensation for Takings is Often too Little, not too Much

Fair market value often fails to fully compensate property owners for their losses. This makes the Supreme Court's recent decision allowing compensation below fair market value even worse.

Ilya Somin | 6.23.2026 5:11 PM

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In my last post, I outlined some of the many reasons why today's Supreme Court decision in Pung v. Isabella County, allowing below-market value compensation for tax foreclosure takings is wrong. The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment requires "just compensation" and giving owners far less than the property's fair market value doesn't measure up. Here, I add an additional point: The problem with fair market value compensation is not that it is too much, but that - all too often - it is actually too little. This........

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