The point is that there really isn't a difference for most of us. I've had a town send a tax bill to the wrong address, but there was still no way out of the penalty that accrued. We only discovered the problem when we realized we hadn't seen a tax bill in quite a while (it was still being sent to a previous owner).
I'm fine with penalties and late fees for people that don't pay on time because they didn't handle the paperwork properly. I'm not fine with their property being confiscated with no warning.
