Tax Taking over $1200 bux?

[Jack Sarcia]

Hi everybody! Feels so good to have a place to bring these questions!

So my girlfriend and I were driving for dollars when we found this awesome abandoned house in Canton Mass. I pull the records and follow it until most recently I see a recording for a "tax taking" and it states the town of Canton is "taking" the house because the 2013 taxes were not paid.

The total owed is only $1200 dollars so does that mean this is more of a NOD on the tax bill or is the town actually taking this home from the owner?

Anybody????

[Ann Bellamy]

@Jack Sarcia , usually, in MA, a tax taking is a tax lien.  Whether Canton sells their liens or not is another question.

The best way to find out the particular situation in Canton is to do two things:  first, read all the MA statutes about tax liens, they are on Mass.gov, I believe.

Second, call the Tax Collector in Canton.  Ask them what their process is.  Each town can and does have a different process.

@Joseph Ball, the taxing authority for property taxes in in MA and NH, and in fact most New England states, is the town.  Each town has some commonalities and some differences.

Not the county. As usual, real estate is truly local.  It was pretty funny when I was reading a book which purported to give the tax lien process for all 50 states.  The author called all the counties in MA.  All of them told them that they don't lien properties for taxes.  The author concluded that there are no tax lien sales in MA.  He apparently didn't ask if there was another taxing authority that DID lien properties or that levied the taxes.  :-)

(And foreclosure auctions are conducted at each individual property, which is not related, but interesting.)