Where Your Hall County Tax Payments Go

Posted by Jill Noelle Olandria on May 4, 2015 11:30:00 AM

If you own real property in Hall County, you should know by now that Hall County tax assessments, bills and payments are inevitable parts of life. Your failure to perform your civic duty of promptly and correctly paying your property taxes will likely result in significant legal and financial consequences.

The bottom line: Be a good citizen and pay your property taxes, among other levies imposed by the State of Georgia and by Hall County. Your willingness to do so may not stem from your fear of the legal and financial consequences but from the assurance that your taxes will be used to your benefit, directly and indirectly.

Hall_County_Tax_Assessor

Life Blood of the Nation

Taxes are aptly known as the life blood of the nation because taxes provide the funds necessary for the federal, state and local governments to deliver basic services, such as education, healthcare, and transportation, to their constituents as well as to perform their functions.

In the case of your Hall County tax payments, the proceeds are used locally, such as in funding school districts, public transport and infrastructure, among other projects by the municipal government. Your local property taxes are all utilized for local projects and services such that the federal and state governments do not receive a cent from your payments in this regard.

Think of it this way: When you pay your property taxes at the taxes commissioner’s office, you are contributing to the betterment of Hall County in general and your neighborhood in particular. You become an active part in community development in another manner, thus, adding another dimension to the performance of your civic duty.

Direct Levy on Property

It must be emphasized that the Hall County tax on property is not levied on the individual per se but directly levied on the individual’s property. Of course, the property owner is directly responsible for the payment of the property tax bill such that failure to pay will have legal and financial consequences.

Keep in mind that unpaid property taxes can result in a property tax lien, a lien imposed upon your property for the purpose of securing payment of taxes. The lien will be attached to your property’s title for as long as the taxes are left unpaid, said lien of which will be your sole responsibility as long as you are the property’s owner. The lien is not affected by selling and transferring it to another owner, not even when the current owner has filed for bankruptcy.

Again, failure to pay your Hall County tax on property will also result in penalties, surcharges and interest, among other monetary charges, which must be paid in addition to the unpaid taxes. The fact of your tax delinquency will also be attached to your property’s title.

But when you still fail to pay your property taxes, your property may be seized by the Hall County tax authorities and then auctioned off during a public tax foreclosure auction. The good news: You may still be able to benefit from the sale, in a manner of speaking, when the net proceeds (i.e., gross proceeds less the total tax lien) are remitted in your favor.

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