Utahns fork over their property taxes

Utahns across the state stopped procrastinating and paid their property taxes Tuesday, the last possible day to pay up without penalty.

Some paid with a smile, while others showed signs of defeat as they handed over their hefty property tax checks.

"Don't give it up till you have to," said one Davis County woman as she handed over her check. "It feels like everything you do you're being taxed and taxed and overtaxed."

In Utah County, treasurer Mel Hudman said it was the busiest day of the year. It was the same story in Salt Lake County, where taxpayers waited in line to make last-minute payments.

It was relatively quiet in Davis County on tax day. Treasurer Mark Altom said Monday — the day before the deadline — was pretty busy, with lines running down the hallway.

"It was busier yesterday," Altom said. "Everyone thought it would be hopping today."

If you haven't paid yet, there's still time, but it will cost. Utah imposes a 2 percent penalty for late payers until Jan. 15, when interest starts to accrue as well.

Out of 313,126 parcels in Salt Lake County, treasurer Larry Richardson said he expects 25,000-30,000 to be late on their taxes.

In some cases that's intentional — developers, usually, who wait to pay until the property is more than bare ground. In other, unintentional, cases, property ownership has changed hands, there is a miscommunication, somebody refinances and doesn't realize his new mortgage company doesn't pay taxes for him.

And yes, sometimes it's the county that goofs up.

In Utah County, more than 9,000 property tax notices were marked "return to sender" and landed back on the treasurer's desk. Hudman said the treasurer's office makes every effort to deliver the tax notices to the right address, but ultimately it's up to the taxpayer to make sure the taxes are paid.

Conventional wisdom is that people in more metropolitan areas pay more taxes, but that's not true in Salt Lake County. On average, Salt Lake City residents, at a rate of 0.01045, don't pay the most. Believe it or not, residents on the opposite end of the valley, in Herriman, pay the most, Richardson said, at a rate of 0.015356.

The county encompasses 361 different tax districts, with people within the same city paying different total rates depending on which taxing districts they belong to — county, city, water and sewer districts, school districts, mosquito abatement, etc. The county collects all tax revenues and distributes them to the different taxing districts.

On behalf of all those districts, including itself, Salt Lake County billed $694 million in property taxes this year.