Paying the Bill

When I returned to the apartment on Tuesday, the "predial" for 2020... the property tax bill... had arrived.  (I was researching the word on the internet and discovered that "predial" exists in the English language also, although it is pronounced a bit differently from Spanish.  It is an adjective that refers to land or property.  So there's your new word for the day.)

The owners of the condo live in the United States, and they had asked me to pay the property tax for them, and then deduct it from my rent.  Now, you may be saying to yourself, "Wait a minute!  Annual real estate tax bills in the United States often run into the thousands of dollars!"  Ah, but this is Mexico.

The annual real estate tax for this very nice, three bedroom, two bath condo located in an excellent part of the city is 8250 pesos... about 440 U.S. dollars.

Not only that, but if you pay the entire annual bill by January 31st, you get an 8% discount, or a 5% discount if you pay by the end of February.   So, yesterday I went to the bank and paid 7590 pesos...or 406 U.S. dollars.  I wish my property taxes back home were that low!