Real estate taxes are a state/local matter, not Federal - why then would the Federal Government/IRS have anything to do with it?

They can be deductible from your federal income tax. They did that to help the housing market.

It doesn't have anything to do with determining or colelcting them.

The ONLY thing the Federal government has to do with Real Estate taxes is allowing taxpayers that itemize deductions to claim a deduction for that amount paid. They do the same for state income taxes.

In a comment to Wayne Z, you claim they clearly do if people are being imprisoned for not paying them.

NEWS FLASH. The VAST majority of people in prison in the US are in STATE prison for STATE crimes.

The news report you THINK you saw either didn't say what you think it said, or was DEAD WRONG.

They don't.

Before any of us can give a factual answer, we need a factual answer from you. Provide a link to this news report.

There are no federal real estate taxes. IRS goes after people for tax fraud, not real estate taxes.

And before anyone goes to jail, the IRS comes after property using tax liens.

Happened to me, they confiscated a large bank account because they incorrectly thought I owed them millions. They also put a tax lien on my house and credit report.

When I did my back taxes and proved I did not, I got 98% of that money back. (penalties & interest were the rest, no real tax was owed)

Now, you can bet I am not late on my taxes anymore.

But I was nowhere near going to jail. Only real tax cheats go to jail. Not honest people like me who just got behind.

The IRS has a fresh start initiative now and once I got caught up, they removed any evidence of the tax lien from my credit report within a month or two of me asking them too.

Please cite the report you saw. Either the report is wrong or you misread it.

They don't.

The law just allows to deduct these items as Itemized Deductions if you pay them.