Paying Property Taxes

[InletBchDweller]

:angry: I don't mind paying for the taxes but the fees to do so by credit card are highway robbery.

I thought, as I am sure others have also, "Why don't I put them on my credit card, earn some points/miles?" Well Rhonda Skippers office charges a fee to use a credit card.

2.95%
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So to pay one of my tax bills I would be charged $37 just to use a card.

Isn't this a bit excessive?

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[TooFarTampa]

It's about that much for Hillsborough too -- it might be a state mandate. I'm with you on the :angry:.

 

[Mango]

The State doesn't charge the fee, the credit card company does that processes the charge. However, it is my belief that you can not affix the charge to using a credit card by law. You can charge a processing fee, though. State agencies may be allowed to. In any event, they are not adding to the coffers with CC fees since it is a cost.

 

[scooterbug44]

I think the reason they have the fee is because if you pay by credit card, they have to pay a percentage of the fee to the credit card company.

If they didn't have a fee, we'd lose 2-4% of the tax revenues that people paid by credit card.

Will the next financial hit be all the people who paid property taxes w/ a credit card not paying their credit card bill?

 

[Mango]

I think the reason they have the fee is because if you pay by credit card, they have to pay a percentage of the fee to the credit card company.

If they didn't have a fee, we'd lose 2-4% of the tax revenues that people paid by credit card.

2.95%-3% is the high. Since they do not know how many people will pay by CC, the plan they took was probably conservative. The less charges, the higher the fee. Also, the collector often has to pay a monthly fee to the CC company in addition to the percent per charge, but it's negligible based on the size of the collector. A lot of people do not realize that every time you use a credit card establishments are paying a percentage, except you don't see it tacked on your bill. That's why I pay cash as often as I can at a restaurant.

 

[InletBchDweller]

I knew that CC companies charge a fee I guess I was just complaining about the amount that it would have been extra that is all. It seems it would be less work at the TA office b/c they dont have to pay a person to open the mail, process the payment, deposit the check, etc. At least we get a discount the earlier we pay.

SB who knows what is next. I swear it makes me sick. For the record, I pay off my CC bills every month. The % rates on those make me :angry: also.

 

[Matt J]

When I first started at SallieMae (student loans) we didn't take credit cards. The theory behind that was you were paying one debt with another and would wind up in a worse financial situation. The demand became so high that they did start taking credit cards and I do understand that some people are just doing it for miles/points.

Mango, I believe the state (who wrote the law restricting the passing of fees) is exempt as are most local agencies. Since government isn't in "business" it's not trying to pass along a cost of business.

 

[scooterbug44]

SB who knows what is next. I swear it makes me sick. For the record, I pay off my CC bills every month. The % rates on those make me :angry: also.

I learned early WHY you should pay those off - I used a credit card to finance a post-graduation trip and it REALLY adds up fast when you have a balance.

 

[ShallowsNole]

Disclaimer: I don't work for the tax collector but in our office, the credit card fee must be tacked on top of the fee for the things we take credit cards for - primarily marriage licenses and traffic/other fines. This is because by law we must collect the full amount for the marriage license or fine, except for the discounts that are provided for by statute. Unfortunately, 2 - 3% is a very common rate and as someone else pointed out earlier, normally you don't see it because the merchant pays it as a cost of doing business. I would imagine that the Tax Collector is not allowed to do that.

btw, this is why, when we were setting up online filing, we decided against accepting credit cards for the Tourist Development Tax. Credit card fees on top of some of the payments we get would be enormous and counter-productive. We chose payment by e-check only, for which we are charged $0.50 per transaction, which we eat.

 

[Creeklover]

I work for local gaverment and we accept credit cards and the fee of 2.95% is the fee that the company we contract with charges we do not make any money off the fee and we do not handle the fee for them. They provide us with equipment and when we run the CC the fee is added and they get it then transfer us our money. This is because we cannot raise fees to cover the cost of the CC charges which range from $.25 pre swipe and a charge of 1.9 - 2.5% depending con the type of card (Amex. Discover Visa Master) and if it is a bussiness card or credit rebuilder card it cost the merchant more than the above fees. The CC company has a racket in this as they charge the merchant and the consumer and make money both ways.

I listed a couple of Floride Laws on credit cards below. Go to http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes...1&Tab=statutes&CFID=71372497&CFTOKEN=27246068 and serch for them to read the whole law

215.322 Acceptance of credit cards, charge cards, or debit cards by state agencies, units of local government, and the judicial branch

501.0117 Credit cards; transactions in which seller or lessor prohibited from imposing surcharge; penalty