Every few weeks I see Facebook clickbait posts claiming homeowners shouldn’t have to pay property taxes once the mortgage is paid off. It’s a catchy headline—but it’s built on a logical fallacy. Mortgages and property taxes have no relationship to each other. One is a private debt; the other is a public obligation attached to the land to fund public services such as schools. In my experience, the two biggest reasons people stop paying property taxes are (1) the owner dies, or