The old cliche is that oppressive governments will create a web of laws and regulations such that any citizen at any time can be ensnared. This situation compels citizens to comply with arbitrary government lest they find themselves bankrupted by defense expenses. Here is a classic example:
At An Appraised Value of $0.00 Your Tax Will Be...
It irks the hell out of the IRS that they can't get something out of this. The possession was originally waivered. Therefore, legal. No foul.
Then the egregious inheritance tax holiday for ten years that was part of the Bush tax reforms placed the clearly valuable collection beyond the reach of the redistributionists.
That got validated by Christie's appraisal of an unsalable item as zero.
But the IRS still wants to suck some blood. So, they assess it at $15 million. That doesn't do a thing for the dead eagle. It simply says we see a big pot of previously earned money and must get a share.
The topper in governmental logic is when the item can't be sold, is appraised at no value, they can't leverage $15 M, so they reappraise at $65 million.
It is Alice in Wonderland.
The eagle has been long dead. The species is no longer endangered. The somewhat questionable goal of the protective legislation is irrelevant. It's simply about taking the money from someone who earned it and paid taxes on it previously.
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