It's just another method by which various governmental agencies have been operating for decades. A few years ago, I had to leave town to attend to a sickly relative. The local authorities where I was living had a "parked three days and it will be towed as abandoned" law on the books, and since I was gone over three months before I was able to return, they had already impounded and towed the vehicle. When I finally got someone who was able to determine where it was, I was informed that since I had not made arrangements to pay the 25 US dollars a day for its storage or made any attempt to reclaim it, it had been shipped out of the state to be sold at general auction in some undisclosed location.
The Bundy's situation is a much more severe version of their gestapo tactics, although I must admit that cattle are much more valuable than a mere vehicle.
Whoa, dude.