…when someone demands my money go to their favorite charity, my enthusiasm fades. When the government compels the expenditure for a problem I didn’t cause, it feels like extortion.

When you read the word “extortion,” you probably picture a gangster shaking down a small business owner. But “the crime of extortion is obtaining money, property, or something else of value by use of a threat, usually of an injury or use of force towards the victim, the victim’s property or reputation, or the victim’s loved ones.” These days, many otherwise honorable organizations seem to be trying to get the government to do the shaking down.

The Humane Society

Last week, I learned that the Humane Society wants all rental owners in California to absorb the cost and risks of any resident bringing any pet into any rental. The rental owner could not collect a pet security depot or charge extra rent for having any four-footed or two-winged living being on site.

The Humane Society noticed that some people living in homeless shelters had pets. There are not enough pet care facilities for all those pets. OK, understood.

The Humane Society did not seek to raise funds from its members to provide pet facilities to homeless people. Instead, it persuaded a state senator to introduce a bill requiring rental owners to accept pets without collecting pet rent or requiring a pet security depot. A legislative committee moved the bill to the floor for a vote of the state senate.

No thanks. I’m opposed to others taking my money for their cause. I asked my representative to vote against the bill. The state senate passed it, and the bill is going to the California House with amendments that exempt some landlords.

The AIDS Foundation

May the AIDs foundation do good things for people with that terrible disease.

They have committed $30 million to promote an initiative that could impose rent control on any rented single-family homes or apartments in California.

The initiative does not build any more housing for AIDs patients or any other Californians. The rent control initiative, which qualified for the November ballot, would erase protections from two existing housing laws. Both laws provide limited protection for rental housing providers. If the initiative passes, then any city or county could enact any rent control scheme without any property rights protection for property owners. Every homeowner or rental housing owner could lose rights that had been in effect for more than a generation without any compensation.

All rental owners are “filthy rich,” right?

In San Diego, most renters live in a fourplex or less. The two most common vocations for rental owners are retired people and teachers. Some might be “dusty rich,” but few are filthy rich. Elon Musk and Waren Buffet are not landlords.

I think it is terrific if a person donates to the Little League, Meals on Wheels, the museum, the zoo, or their place of worship.

However, when anyone proposes to extract money from my account for a cause, I don’t choose or correct a problem I didn’t create that seems inappropriate. Regardless of relative wealth, when my money is taken without my consent, it feels like extortion.

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So now it’s your turn.

What are your thoughts about lobbying the government to take your money to fund causes you don’t choose?

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Terry Moore, CCIM, is the author of Building Legacy Wealth: How to Build Wealth and Live a Life Worth Imitating. Read his “Welcome to My Blog.”

Click here and find out how Terry and his team can help you make the most important financial decision of your next decade.