Equal Share means?

The sorting out of incidentals have driven me over the edge the past 13 months. With each new month, I receive additional ancillary matters which needs attention. This morning, I dealt with the Property Tax department. Over the past 9 years, I have been paying Property Tax for this home on my own since the Taxman chose to bill me - no idea why since there are two owners with equal shares. Considering that both owners submit their income tax individually, why doesn't the taxman split the property tax respectively? It doesn't matter if this isn't a million dollar home - it's still money that has been paid by only one owner, leaving the other party with no responsibility towards the tax, which should be equally shared, since the shares are equally split.

I think a lot of departments should and must re-look at how things are being billed, especially when there are two owners. Like bank loans, if there is a guarantor, they somehow know how to find the guarantor even when the guarantor may not have enjoyed spending the loan. But for home ownership, it does not seem to matter if the shares/housing mortgage is split 50-50 - because most would just go for whom they KNOW they will get payment from - including the TV licensing unit. These are the people who send me bills - only me.

We never really think about this because most of us just want to pay up soonest possible.

There is no way to change how we assume things simply because when we are all busy, climbing the corporate ladder and targeting to increase our income earning capacity, we don't pay attention to such details. Having a joint-account will also not solve the problem IF respective organisations insist on billing just one party - it's fine when both are contributing to the household expenses equally - which is not easy to establish especially when the demographics change over time.

So, although I'm all for equal share, I'm not convinced that such a situation exists. It only exists in our head which says so only in one situation i.e. WHEN WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO GET INTO A QUARREL FOR WHATEVER VALID REASON. That is a compromise and unfortunately, as long as we are in a relationship, COMPROMISES are the order of the day.

In reality, it can never be statistically 50-50 share.