Back Property Taxes

You can check online using your property parcel number. They also will show copies of all your tax bills. The link to the site is on the Lt. Governors site.

Thanks for the info. Eric, The site must have issues. I tried to get the tax bills, but it shows no such parcel. I have lived there for ten years.I'll try during business hours next week.The web site said no tax fines for 07,08,09, and 10 will be levied.

Today's Daily News has an article explaining it all, and the news isn't the best. 2007 bills will be sent in Februaru, then the 2008 bills will be sent this summer. Seems unfair that we're gonna get hit with two years' worth of property tax bills in a six month period. The bills will be at the 1998 level, but still.

This is just another example of of the type of government ineptitude that we're discussiong in the Sickout thread.

I have heard on several occasions that it is illegal to issue taxes for more than one year in a year. Does anyone know if this is true?

Not True! The Tax is being held up by the Courts not the VI Administration. We all know the tax will be due and we should escrow for it.

Not True! The Tax is being held up by the Courts not the VI Administration. We all know the tax will be due and we should escrow for it.

i was just thinking, if i know i have to pay rent or any other customary bill, i'd be socking it away because it's an expense that does not go away. you could be earning interest on the money too. or could have been. i am sure lots of people did do this lizard, but apparently a lot of people did not.

even if not sure of the amount, at least i would not have to come up with it out of thin air.:S

Agree with Anita. And on the bright side, at least the property tax rate here is very low.

In this bogus reassessment, my property value went from 300K to 1.6M for a very most wood frame home. All of my neighbors remained the same. When we fought it, the new assessment went up $100. I can handle the old rate, but the whole reassessment that was done by Bearing Point is wrong on so many levels.

Today's Daily News has an article explaining it all, and the news isn't the best. 2007 bills will be sent in Februaru, then the 2008 bills will be sent this summer. Seems unfair that we're gonna get hit with two years' worth of property tax bills in a six month period. The bills will be at the 1998 level, but still.

This is just another example of of the type of government ineptitude that we're discussing in the Sickout thread.

Better watch out what you say derogatory regarding government employees & locals in here...you'll get in a lot of flack for telling the truth!
I know I did.
But, the day will come when they blurt something out & you can call them the hypocrites they are(I know I did)!

DUN, I am a "local" and do take offense at many of your posts.

DUN, I am a "local" and do take offense at many of your posts.

And likewise(at least we can agree on that, I've always been less than amused by yours).
And, are you really "local", I don't think so(and neither do the real locals)!
And, I believe you are a renter here(not enough $ and/or faith that you would remain to make that commitment.
Just my .02:D

Today's Daily News has an article explaining it all, and the news isn't the best. 2007 bills will be sent in Februaru, then the 2008 bills will be sent this summer. Seems unfair that we're gonna get hit with two years' worth of property tax bills in a six month period. The bills will be at the 1998 level, but still.

This is just another example of of the type of government ineptitude that we're discussing in the Sickout thread.

Better watch out what you say derogatory regarding government employees & locals in here...you'll get in a lot of flack for telling the truth!
I know I did.
But, the day will come when they blurt something out & you can call them the hypocrites they are(I know I did)!

sometimes it's not what you say but how you say it.

it's unfortunate that some employees can mark their colleagues by their actions but in any office it can happen.

i work with and have worked with many "locals" who are competent, diligent, and committed to providing quality service. they are not an urban myth. i have also experienced rudeness from government and other employees in my life. i don't mark them all.

government being what it is, it is likely that the person you are poking at is frustrated at having to be on the front line without the wherewithal or purview to resolve your difficulty. some give up and get crunchy over time. customers can be really nasty too.

DUN, why did you feel the need for a personal attack on me? I've been posting on this board for more than 8 years and have always been able to make my points without devolving to personal attack. I did not say you were an evil person, or that I hated you, or that you were stupid, or poor or really anything like that. I said I was offended by some of your posts. Pretty easy to understand.

I believe stating your thoughts and opinions in a considered, respectful, way is necessary if you are interested in communication. But if you are only interested in being offensive, you're doing a fine job.

DUN, why did you feel the need for a personal attack on me? I've been posting on this board for more than 8 years and have always been able to make my points without devolving to personal attack. I did not say you were an evil person, or that I hated you, or that you were stupid, or poor or really anything like that. I said I was offended by some of your posts. Pretty easy to understand.

I believe stating your thoughts and opinions in a considered, respectful, way is necessary if you are interested in communication. But if you are only interested in being offensive, you're doing a fine job.

here here.

As well... Buying vs renting is a fecetious argument, just like the born here or not -B.S.

re: back taxes...
The govt is going to have to concede on the schedule. Too many people did not escrow and it would be political suicide to pretend otherwise.

The only Political suicide is not enough fish at the Fish Fry!

Neil, How do you know that a lot of people did not escrow for the RE/Tax. If the Real Estate has a mortgage on it, the lender would have collected and escrowed for the past and present tax due.Where are you getting your information from. I would think most property owners understand the problem with the RE/tax in the USVI at present. Tenants don't really have to think about it!

A whole lot of land in the islands doesn't have a mortgage attached, but is owned free and clear and in some cases has been owned that way by families for generations. Those properties don't involved a lender, so there is no escrow account receiving funds for back taxes. Most people don't open a separate account and set aside taxes on their own for future payments and instead figure whatever is in their account is available to spend even when it really is already owed for taxes as yet unpaid.

Also, due to the territory's property revaluation program and the delayed collection of taxes, for years now new purchases have involved a pro-ration between buyer and seller with multiple years of back taxes being credited on the settlement statement from the seller to the buyer so that the buyer can eventually pay the taxes when they get billed. Even if there is a lender involved in the purchase, they have not been taking possession of the multiple years of back taxes changing hands at the closing and only escrow for one year at a time as mortgage payments come in. Usually they take 3 months at closing and then 1/12 of the expected annual tax each month. This means that when more than one tax bill gets issued within a calendar year that the escrow accounts will have a shortfall and lots of people will be scrambling.

If the buyer receives a credit at the closeing for back RE/Tax why wouldf the new lender collect for it. The new lender( mortgage-Bank) would only collect for future Re/Tax. The Old lender would have turned over escrow funds at time of closeing to the seller, hence and issue a credit for the buyer.

The new lender, if any, would be wise to escrow the entire amount of back taxes owed to protect their loan on the property. There isn't always an old lender involved in a transaction. The credit goes from seller to buyer, not from old lender to buyer or new lender. Any escrowed funds the seller had with his prior lender, if any, get refunded to the seller directly from their old lender after the closing and aren't accounted for on the settlement statement.

In our screwy tax situation in the USVI, this means that there is a substantial amount of back taxes owed... eventually... that the buyer may or may not remember to save the $$ credited at closing to pay to the tax authority when the bills come due. That can come back to bite the new lender in the butt. Fortunately for lenders, the USVI is as lax about foreclosing for unpaid property taxes as they are about collecting property taxes in the normal course of events. Anywhere else, a property would be foreclosed for unpaid taxes and sold at a tax lien auction and the lender would lose their outstanding loan, which would in most cases never be paid by the buyer.

LOL:@) You should read again what I wrote. OH! The credit for the upaid Real Estate Tax is on the RESPA Settlement. A New Lender will not close on a Note unless the tax amount is escrowed.

Lizard, this is America. You think a lot of people been saving to pay the govt?

No... they will scream bloody murder, and then the govt will come up with a plan because the prospect of foreclosing on ancestral property will (and has already) raised fears of "dem comin to take our land" (again). It's already being worried about on the radio. Just saying.

I'M sure that there will be some people that come up short. My beliefs are not in commercial radio that the end of the world or the Govt is going to take our property away. The Chicken little routine has not died yet.

An old politician told me " A government that is strong enough to give you everything you want is certainly strong enough to take everything you have"

An old politician told me " A government that is strong enough to give you everything you want is certainly strong enough to take everything you have"

It could have been a Politician that told you that saying, however that statement was published in Mad Magazine in the Early 50's under the Alfred E. Newman drawing ever Presidential election year.

Then it is even more appropriate.