Long lines at tax offices as homeowners try to beat hike

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 11:55 am, Wednesday, December 27, 2017

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Homeowners are lining up in droves at local tax collection offices, hoping for one last chance to take advantage of a major tax deduction before it is wiped out in the new year.

In Hempstead, town Tax Receiver Donald Clavin said "thousands" of people packed his office Tuesday trying to pay their 2018 property and school taxes a year in advance.

"This is almost chaotic," Oyster Bay Tax Receiver James Stefanich told Newsday . He said homeowners began lining up in the cold an hour before his office opened.

Similar scenes played out at tax collection offices around the country in places with high local taxes.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Long-lines-at-tax-offices-as-homeowners-try-to-12457491.php

[Honeycombe8]

1. I think the prop taxes I just paid are for 2018.

They are always for the upcoming year. I think they're for 2018, even tho due by end of 2017.

I get confused about that.

[Cicada]

2. If you pay in 2017 it works no matter which year it is for

Assuming you will itemize deductions on your 2017 tax return

[Honeycombe8]

3. Oh....I see. I thought it was specifically for 2018 taxes. I always get confused

about which year's taxes I'm paying for.

[Fred Sanders]

5. Only if you have already received your tax assessment and bill. Otherwise why not pay as

many years as you like. The IRS will restrict this. No tax bill, no prepay.

[Cicada]

6. The tax collector will not accept payment for taxes not on their bill anyway.

Yes, that is true. But it is not just an IRS rule. Until it is assessed, or billed, the tax collector does not know that you owe tax and will not take payment. In the future a radioactive cloud could make your property worthless so your tax would be zero.

[Marthe48]

4. another GD outrage

I read years ago that 66% of American companies don't pay taxes AT ALL, in USA Weekend. And I bet the number is higher and higher. Can we all incorporate our families and get the deductions that companies do? Can a neighborhood become a business? Or a whole city? Get those assets piles up, qualify for the benefits of being filthy rich.