I recently had a run-in with large government and wanted to share it.
I don't know how taxes (property taxes, at least) are run in other states. Frankly, I didn't know how they went in my former state of Illinois. I've always had them escrowed out of my mortgage, and didn't need to bother with it. We recently refinanced our VA Loan, dropping from 5% to a 3% Hybrid loan. So, now I'm getting all the taxes sent to me. I live in Garland, Texas. We get taxes from City of Garland, County of Dallas and the Garland Independent School District. In Texas we have a "Homestead exemption" on the house you actually live in. It's quite large. I suppose it's aimed at penalizing those who have more than one home. Dallas is very "Progressive." We also have an exemption for being over 65 years of age.
Well, for some reason they never asked for my homestead, until the previous owners filed that he had died, and the house was sold. Then they sent me a form to claim homestead. I filled it out, and sent it in. That's when they hit me with back taxes owed. Since the previous owner died in November 2008, and we didn't buy the house until April, 2009, they removed the homestead exemption for the whole year of 2009. I owed taxes (from the 3 different places that charge me taxes) to the tune of $1693.24.
I got 2 different statements on one of them, with a penalty date of November 1st on one, and December 1st on the second one sent. I was confused, so I called to see which one was right. It was December 1st, they told me. Well, this was the first two places totaling $1172.26. I happened to have it because we refinanced and were able to skip a mortgage payment. I paid it on November 3rd. I got a notice yesterday (November 12) that the City of Garland was late, and I didn't send enough. They fined me $193.67 and I got the last one (County of Dallas) for $520.98. So now, I owe $714.65 on top of the $1172.26 I've already paid. All this because no one actually lived here on January 1, 2009. It doesn't matter that it's my homestead for the whole time I lived here, and that when ANYONE was living here it was a homestead. It was never rented, never occupied except by me that year. I may wait until January 1st to pay the late charges, because they will only be $196.75. Not a lot of difference, and time to build up that kind of money. I was told they only give you 21 days when they're back taxes. So, even for something not your fault, you only have 21 days to come up with $1886.91. I don't know about most people, but that puts me in dire straights. I don't have that kind of cash lying around. If we hadn't refinanced, we wouldn't have had the first part.
I think it's all designed to repossess houses. Don't pay your back taxes? We're coming to get your house. The government has gotten too big. We as citizens don't have any power anymore. They are supposed to be serving us. I can see if I had just neglected to pay my taxes, but they have it on record that my taxes were paid. They refigured and tell me I owe more. I've been living in this house for almost 2 years, and NOW you want to redo the homestead exemption? They have quite a racket going.
I have no alternative but to trust that the Lord will provide. I called my new mortgage company, and 2010 taxes are taken care of out of escrow (unless they're a lot higher than they should be - we did have to remove the over 65 exemption because we're younger than that). So, hopefully the check that comes back from my previous escrow account will cover these AFTER I write the checks for them. I still haven't gotten that check to know what it is.
Even our local government has outgrown the American People. I hope this election cycle does indeed change things. By the way, I make (from my husband's salary AND his Navy retirement together) in the $50,000-55,000 range. Without military retirement, we'd be making in the $30,000-35,000 range. Just think, you could be next.
Lori Ann Smith
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