June 10, 2009 — When you've got George Washington and Abraham Lincoln behind you, you're off to a good start. And we're not talking about one- and five-dollar bills, since if we were, we'd ditch George and Abe and head for the Benjamins. (Or, actually, the late Chief Justice Salmon Chase, who appears on the $10,000 bill. And doesn't that just sound like a fishing competition? "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the $10,000 Salmon Chase!")

Now that we've dragged you this far in through sheer digression, we'll tell you why: Because this week's new product is ... tax tables! We were afraid you wouldn't even start reading if we said that first. Here's the thing: We're talking about the first free, online, readily available property-tax database by a non-partisan university and a think tank (the aforementioned George and Abe; we'll get to that).We're not talking dry, boring, raw information — no, this thing lets you create customized tables based on your state, range of years and a host of categories you can pick yourself, from property-tax rates to real estate transfer charges. No more operating in the dark, lacking checks-and-balances for the information your well-meaning but occasionally mistaken professionals provide.