Some Iowa MH owners facing big tax problems.

mowermech wrote:
How is it "cheating" if you:
1. KNOW the applicable law
2. COMPLY with the law exactly as it is written
and
3. DOCUMENT your compliance with the law.

Working within the law is NOT "cheating"!

The Iowa law is very clear: If you have not paid the sales tax on your vehicle, and it is registered in another state, do NOT bring it to Iowa for more than 90 days!
One MUST obey the law. It is just that simple. Those who don't, have trouble.

This is the problem with loopholes. Whether or not it is 'cheating' is a question of semantics. The simple truth is that the letter of the law does not always reflect the intent of the law. Anyone who has ever tried to write any form of legalistic code, behavioral dictate, etc... knows that one rule simply begets another, which begets another, and so on. In the end, the letter of the law quickly becomes some absurdly extensive legalistic code that rarely reflects the behavioral intent out of which it originated.

The point of the 90-day rule, I would suggest, was to put a legalistic definition on what would be considered a unit belonging to someone 'living' in Iowa. The only reason this is necessary is that it is unenforceable without such a definition. The law was not written, however, to give everyone who moves the unit outside of the state for all of 89 days to avoid taxes. The law was written to make sure people living in Iowa would pay Iowa taxes. Thus, I would suggest that the intent of the law is that anyone who considers Iowa 'home' should pay taxes in Iowa while those visiting Iowa now and then should not - a very reasonable outline.

So, is registering out of state legal if you stay in-state less than 90 days formally legal? Quite possibly. Can you get away with it if you stay within the letter of the law? Probably. But, does that make it acceptable to manipulate a loophole one knows was not intended for them? I'm not sure that's as easy to answer.