Am I responsible for back state and federal taxes on a property I want to buy

Hello k:

Those costs are negotiable.

excon

Not normally. Generally, at the closing, the title company will collect checks to pay all taxes due. The seller could be including those amounts in his asking price.

By the way, the Federal government doesn't impose porperty taxes. Generally, neither does the state government. Property taxes are generally done on a town or county basis.