Vehicle Property Taxes

[Todd Burch]

Yeah good ol' Virginia's got this property tax thing. I was paying $65 a year for an 11 year old bottom-of-the-line Saturn. No incentives for EV ownership either. And an "EV" fee you have to pay annually. And no incentives for solar. (So SolarCity won't come here). And...

 

[Tempus]

Yeah good ol' Virginia's got this property tax thing. I was paying $65 a year for an 11 year old bottom-of-the-line Saturn. No incentives for EV ownership either. And an "EV" fee you have to pay annually. And no incentives for solar. (So SolarCity won't come here). And...

Yeah, i complain about virginias status regarding anything ev related regularly. Its actually actively bad for me to get a fuel efficient vehicle license plate here now. Yearly charge and zero benefit. And dont get me started on solar. *sigh*

 

[olanmills]

Wow that's crazy. I guess the idea is to punish luxury?

 

[VolkerP]

Nope. Virginia has coal. Promoting the idea of energy efficiency would hurt some pockets.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Maine has Vehicle Excise Tax. Rates are the same across the state.
It's 2.4% in the first year falling to 0.4% from the 6th year onwards. 9.15% for the first 10 years. It's based off the MSRP rather than sale price. There's a minimum value for veerrry'old cars.

The tax revenue goes to towns, like the property tax on buildings.;

My only problem with it is that it makes adminstration of registrations less efficient.

Although it might discourage the purchase of new cars, that's a good thing for the state since each sale sucks money away from the local economy. It's also, I feel, a fairer measure of wealth than a tax based on the value other people place on an unrealized asset you may not even want to sell.

 

[wycolo]

> Unfortunately, I don't have enough deductions to itemize on my taxes, so I can't claim it as a deduction either.

Its a property tax just like real estate tax or (real property based) school tax regardless of what a given state or locality chooses to call it. You have to figure it each year along with all your other deductions. You just might do better than the Standard Deduction in that year. If you choose the SDed then you are enjoying a bonus, so don't feel bad!
--

 

[sublimaze1]

Yeah good ol' Virginia's got this property tax thing. I was paying $65 a year for an 11 year old bottom-of-the-line Saturn. No incentives for EV ownership either. And an "EV" fee you have to pay annually. And no incentives for solar. (So SolarCity won't come here). And...

Virginia is learning from my ex-patriate host, Maryland. Sometimes they even have surcharges on the fees that you have to pay to pay the taxes.

 

[Robert.Boston]

From an optimal taxation POV, this is a pretty good tax. People with more income/wealth tend to drive higher-value cars, so the tax tends to hit those most able to pay. Of course, some people need costlier vehicles for their work (e.g. heavy pickup trucks on the ranch).

 

[sublimaze1]

From an optimal taxation POV, this is a pretty good tax. People with more income/wealth tend to drive higher-value cars, so the tax tends to hit those most able to pay. Of course, some people need costlier vehicles for their work (e.g. heavy pickup trucks on the ranch).

(Texas speaks up) - but then, those vehicles (the F350 Dually with gooseneck attachment - drooling) are not subject to gaz guzzler tax, nor are they subject to luxury cost tax - so it evens out here.

 

[digitaltim]

Something like this is coming everywhere if we are successful in pulling off the electrification of transportation...the states/fed will have to replace the lost gas excise/sales taxes. I figured it would be a combination of this and more toll-based roads. Honestly, I prefer consumption-based taxes so I would vote in favor of the tolls or a tax at the time of purchase - that makes it (somewhat) controllable based on personal consumption.

 

[dsm363]

Something like this is coming everywhere if we are successful in pulling off the electrification of transportation...the states/fed will have to replace the lost gas excise/sales taxes. I figured it would be a combination of this and more toll-based roads. Honestly, I prefer consumption-based taxes so I would vote in favor of the tolls or a tax at the time of purchase - that makes it (somewhat) controllable based on personal consumption.

I would prefer a national standard for automatic tolls. Each state or city requiring their own sensor on thei windshield is too much. Something that doesn't need to be visible on the windshield would be preferable.

 

[Robert.Boston]

@dsm363: EZPass is the standard everywhere on the east coast, down to VA and out to IL. It'd be great if that standard spread.

 

[dsm363]

@dsm363: EZPass is the standard everywhere on the east coast. You can drive NJ-NY-MA-NH-ME with a common box.

Thanks. We have TxTag here which is a large sticker that goes below the rear-view mirror. Maybe some places use EZPass here too or it could be adopted by all states.

 

[digitaltim]

@dsm363 TX is it's own country, right? ;-)

E-ZPass covers MD, PA, DE and VA as well to my knowledge - my weekly commute is MD-DE-NJ so I love it versus stopping to pay a toll..I just don't love the $150+/month in tolls. They do need to come up with something that is more aesthetically pleasing versus the unsightly windshield mounted device. The more recent feature is you can use it to pay for parking in many of the same states...especially at airports.

 

[Robert.Boston]

Here in the Boston area, you can also use EZPass to pay for parking at commuter rail stations.

 

[dsm363]

@dsm363 TX is it's own country, right? ;-)

E-ZPass covers MD, PA, DE and VA as well to my knowledge - my weekly commute is MD-DE-NJ so I love it versus stopping to pay a toll..I just don't love the $150+/month in tolls. They do need to come up with something that is more aesthetically pleasing versus the unsightly windshield mounted device. The more recent feature is you can use it to pay for parking in many of the same states...especially at airports.

Some people are pushing for that actually:smile:

I wonder if the major car manufacturers could work on a standard that builds something into the car to avoid the windshield stickers. We have enough of those already.