Direct answer
What does tax lien mean?
A tax lien is a charge against real property that secures payment of unpaid property taxes.
Exam cue: Property taxes commonly become a lien with priority determined by law.
What does it look like in a question?
Example
Unpaid local property taxes remain as a lien that must be addressed in a sale.
Common exam trap
What should you not confuse it with?
A tax lien is not the same as an income-tax deduction.
Related taxes and assessments terms
Assessed valueAssessed value is the value placed on real property for property-tax administration.Assessment rollAn assessment roll is the official municipal record listing parcels, assessed values, exemptions and related assessment information.Equalization rateThe equalization rate is New York State's measure of a municipality's overall level of assessment, calculated from total assessed value and total market value.ExemptionA property tax exemption is a law-based reduction or removal of qualifying property value from specified property taxation.Tax levyA tax levy is the total amount a taxing jurisdiction determines it must raise through property taxes.Tax rateA tax rate is the rate applied to taxable assessed value to calculate property tax for a jurisdiction.
Sources used2 references with section locators
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