Property Tax Deferral: No Applause

In 2016 I paid property taxes in person
in Redwood City. It's not worth the trouble.

Last week your humble blogger slammed the San Mateo County tax collector for not deferring the April 10th property tax payments. On Monday came the announcement that the payments are deferred to Monday, May 4th.

Section 2619 says that if April 10 “falls on Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday,” the due date is the next business day. It also says, “If the board of supervisors, by adoption of an ordinance or resolution, closes the county’s offices for business prior to the time of delinquency on the ‘next business day’ or for that whole day, that day shall be considered a legal holiday for purposes of this section.”

San Mateo and San Francisco county supervisors adopted resolutions to close their tax collector’s offices so the payment deadlines could be extended until they reopen.

The deferral is due to the offices being closed, not because of a policy change to help taxpayers. The Monday announcement came after many (ahem) had already sent in their payments.

So, no applause from these quarters.