news story / By Heidi Walters

I Have A Tax Lien?

That unsecured property tax can bite you if you forget to pay the dang thing

(Dec. 3, 2009)  The woman on the phone at first was certain it was a mistake.

“I have one of those? I have a tax lien?” said Denise Goforth, owner of the Petrolia General Store, Tuesday morning.

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“Yep. It was recorded at the county clerk’s office last week.” And she wasn’t the only one, I told her. Seven hundred Humboldt County residents — including some more prominent folks — had failed to pay their unsecured property taxes by the deadline, Aug. 31. Some owed less than $100; others owed several thousand.

Goforth, who owns a small business in Humboldt County, didn’t remember getting a notice in the mail that she owed $772.35 in unsecured property taxes for the tax year that ended June 30, and that there’d be a lien placed on her if she failed to pay by Aug. 31.

“I’m a person who pays my taxes,” she said, sounding perplexed and annoyed. She said she was going to call the county to see what it was about.

Moments later, she called back.

“Well,” she said, “it’s one I forgot. It’s on the standing equipment, and I missed the deadline. We have walk-ins — walk-in refrigerators and coolers — and every year you have to pay an equipment tax on that. And I just had three deaths in the family, and I’ve been flying back and forth for illnesses and I just missed this one. [The notice] is probably in a box somewhere. And if I don’t pay it by Dec. 31, on Jan. 1 they can take it out of my bank account.”

Humboldt County Treasurer-Tax Collector Stephen Strawn says the unsecured property tax does sometimes take a few people by surprise, although most people pay it on time. Unsecured property taxes are levied on things not secured to land — boats, airplanes, business equipment on leased or rented property, etc. They’re also levied on property that is taxed as “possessory interest” — anything taxable that is located on a government entity. For instance, if you rent a boat slip out at Woodley Island, you’re using a public space that’s now unavailable for use by others. That puts a taxable value on it. An airplane hangar is another example.

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