tax lien
3
7.6
- noun
- /tæks liːn/
- Specialized
:
gravamen fiscal
- I got a tax lien that I've had for quite some time, that's really affecting my life.
Maybe they're investing in annuities, maybe they're investing in tax liens.
- Maybe they're investing in annuities, maybe they're investing in tax liens.
- Maybe you've heard people say, well, I want to go get the tax liens and the tax defaults, right?
Examples
-
When she realized she had unpaid property taxes, she received notice of a tax lien placed on her home.
-
Getting these done will also take two tax liens off my credit file and raise my credit score.
Blog text (7) -
So selling a tax lien is not the same as selling a deed to a property.
Blog text (22) -
Two years ago, the District of Columbia sold a tax lien on the home Stanley Stefan lived in for nearly 40 years.
Blog text (22) -
Her sole benefit from the refinance was the payoff of the tax lien, which she could have satisfied with direct payments to the New York City Department of Finance through an affordable payment plan.
Academic text (2006) -
Local governments have long used tax lien sales to offload the burden of collecting unpaid taxes and recoup cash from homeowners who missed payments.
Blog text (22) -
If you don't pay the tax after receiving the notice and demand, a tax lien arises in the amount of the tax, plus interest and penalties, and attaches to all of the property you own at the time.
Academic text (2006) -
The government imposed a tax lien on his property after he failed to pay his taxes for several years.
-
If you do not pay your property taxes, the county can file a tax lien that allows them to seize your house.
How Serious
- Specialized
209
7.2
- Specialized
3
7.6
- Formal
13
5.3
- Formal
1
3.7
42
2.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'tax' specifies the type/cause of a 'lien' (a legal claim on property), so a learner who knows both constituents can infer that it is a government/legal claim related to unpaid taxes. This noun+noun compounding follows a regular, cross-linguistically common pattern, making the expression transparent to learners familiar with the component words.
Etymology
Tax lien comes from the idea of lien, an old word for a legal 'tie' to someone's property. Imagine the government putting a tight tie on a house so it cannot be sold until the tax is paid; a tax lien is a legal 'claim' that lets authorities 'take' the property if taxes remain unpaid.