If you have read my other articles here, you might have noted the psychological approach towards subject matter.
Therefore, as you have probably guessed from the title, this article on property tax is not going to be any different.
After all, the years spent earning degrees in neurobehavioral psychology should not be wasted.
Certainly, I could have chosen to write about property tax with a presentation of numerous facts, figures, rules and regulations, but then this is information you can easily find for yourself.
However, if facts and figure are what you are after then you can go to properties-tax dot com to get them.
Not that we can guarantee that you won't find a single fact somewhere in this article, but mainly what we're going to be discussing is angst.
Specifically, that day certain annual angst experienced by property owners with the arrival of the property tax bill that will tell them how much he/she must pay should they desire to continue their relationship with the property.
While it is true that some property owners miss-out on this intense emotional experience, because their tax is included with the mortgage payment, do not be fooled.
They are no less affected, it just that their feelings about it are more or less staggered throughout the year.
In which case, what is it about that property tax bill that makes the paying of it different from let's say income tax or sales tax?Well, for starters, it is a bill, and it is one of the few bills we receive that lacks for prior warning of how much is due on it.
We are forewarned if sales taxes are going up, we know ahead of time if we are going to be paying more in income tax, not so with property tax.
Simply, our mind does not have time to adjust to one of the things it hates most, namely 'bad surprises'.
And don't even think that expecting the possibility of 'bad news, is the same as a 'bad surprise'.
While the expectation of bad news may make a person nervous it is simply not the same as the trauma generated by a bad surprise.
So please don't tell me that you were actually expecting that your latest property tax bill was going to be twice the amount it was the previous year, because I won't believe you.
Heaven knows, citizens have fought, and continue to fight the good fight to try and shield themselves from the experience, but the results have been somewhat mixed.
California property owners did it with proposition 13, Oregon tried something similar, followed by other states, yet nothing stopped the upward trajectory, it was only slowed and then only for a while.
Now, on the heels of the real estate boom, some states such as Florida, have actually had their property taxes, sans a couple of dollars, double.
Of course, the real estate boon has fizzled, property values have declined, and it seems that many property owners were somehow expecting that those declining values would be reflected in their property tax bill.
In other words, they were expecting a 'good surprise', which made the actual bill a much worse 'bad surprise'.
Worse still, there is no on to argue with over it.
Oh, I suppose one could argue it if they really wanted to.
They could file a formal complaint, demand a hearing, look for an attorney to mount a battle, and protest by not paying their property tax bill, but that does present the inherent danger that by the time such a fight makes its way through the system, the property in question will have been auctioned off.
However, so as not to end this article on a sour note, consider that it is the property taxes you pay that provide for services to you and your community such as education, libraries, roads, hospitals and emergency services.
Admittedly, while you may not be in full agreement with exactly how the officials are managing your money, hopefully, just knowing that it is going towards good use, will bring you some reprieve from the fear and loathing that might be generated by the arrival of your next property tax bill.