My county takes credit cards for property taxes, but they charge a 3% fee. I could have Plastiq charge my credit card for the rewards and send the county a check, but they now charge a 2.9% fee.

Property taxes in Texas are a big deal. I pay about 1.5% of my home’s assessed value each year (the assessed value is likely lower than current market). There’s no state income tax in Texas, of course. The biggest component of the property tax is school taxes, with a large portion of school property taxes in my county going back to the state to redistribute (in part) to less prosperous districts (they call this “recapture”).

• Fortunately, if I’m going to pay high property taxes I can earn rewards.
• And there’s a way to do it paying with a credit card while avoiding high (and, indeed, any) fees.

Paypal’s billpay feature allows me to pay Travis County property taxes at no charge, either online or through their app. This may be available for your property taxes as well, and in some cases for other bills where the vendor would charge you a fee directly.

Choose “Pay Bills” on the right hand side of the website. If you’ve never paid the vendor before, choose “add a new bill.”

Then search for the vendor.

You’ll need to have the card you want to use already entered into Paypal. And you want to clear out any Paypal balance before you do this, because it will draw your balance before charging a credit card.

Another nice thing here is that Paypal is sometimes part of a quarterly or targeted spend offer for rewards cards, so you may earn in an accelerator category. I’m making my payment on the first of the month for Bilt Rent Day so that I earn double points that way.

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Things that make you go hmm.

1. How come flight attendants have to pick up the cups they serve drinks in prior to takeoff, but they let me keep the Starbucks coffee I brought on board myself?

2. If Delta, United, and American award points as a multiple of the price paid for your ticket, why do they call those points ‘miles’?

3. If liquids are so dangerous, why are they tossed together in a bin next to the security checkpoint instead of dealt with by a hazmat team?

   

4. Why don’t airlines who base elite status on revenue give credit for tickets purchased but not flown?

5. Why do rental car companies have to cable ALL of a vehicles keys together? If you lose one key this way you lose them all. Whose pocket exactly are these supposed to fit in?

   

I might as well add, echoing Gallagher, “why do we drive on parkways, and park in driveways?”

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