SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah judge has approved a plan to collect $2.2 million in back taxes and prevent the land and homes held in polygamous sect's trust from being lost to tax sale.
Third District Judge Denise Lindberg says a court-appointed accountant can use the threat of eviction to try to get residents of the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., to pay up.
The United Effort Plan communal land trust was once run by Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Utah took control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement.
Taxes have been overdue on more than 130 land parcels since 2008.
Trust attorneys say the threat of eviction might prompt residents to pay their taxes.
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