Some Iowa MH owners facing big tax problems.

westernrvparkowner wrote:
on the license plate on their vehicle. I happen to live in Montana. My RV has Montana plates. I would be fuming mad if I was singled out and forced to prove my residency because I happened to take my Motorhome to a football game in Iowa. No

So, you show your Montana driver's license and go on your way.

Rbertalotto wrote:
If the taxes were reasonable, and not 5%, most folks wouldn't care.

5% is the same or less than what many states charge. Your idea of reasonable is probably 0%. I hate taxes, but I also understand they are necessary to some extent to pay for government.

Big difference between being "just" curious and having "reasonable cause".....

Didn't mean to offend.....Sometimes these forums fail to offer the proper inflection when a statement is made.

I'm a big fan of "Point of Law" and even a bigger fan of the constitution...and especially a big fan of LEOs..... :-)

Rbertalotto wrote:
I'm not sure if this statement was made by a LEO in a previous post

"To bad for him I was curious"

Scares the heck out of me.....We are on a VERY slippery slope. But some will now come to defend this action because they simply don't know any better.

That was my post. I’ll bite, what it that I/we don’t know any better is. I am always interested in learning more, from others, thus the reason I find this forum extremely useful.

Yes, I was curious and curious my entire career.

I saw smoke coming out from the back of a truck, and was curious. His brake line was cut and dripping on his brake rotor. (PC-Defective vehicle)

I witnessed a vehicle repeatedly driving on the shoulder and was curious. He was DUI. (PC=Driving on a shoulder/Failing to maintain a single lane of travel)

I witnessed a vehicle failing to stop for a stop sign. (PC=Disregard of a traffic control device) Contacting the female driver, I was standing next to her driver's door when she opened her purse and then clutch purse, pulling out her driver's license, handing it to me. I saw something in her clutch purse and asked for that and then the next one, and the next one, until I had 6 driver's licenses in my hand, all with her picture on them, but all with different names. She had systematically collected friend's, and roommates driver's licenses, placed them in the laundry until the picture was illegible (Back in the day when DLs were just a plastic sheet) and went to the DL Bureau and got a new one with her picture printed on it/them. (PC=Fraudulent Use of a Government Document).

Yep, LEOs are a curious bunch, be afraid if you must. Best chance to avoid them would be just to stay home and don’t answer the door, when they come a knockin.

As for vehicle Registration, most LEOs have no interest in stopping you for a registration verification.

b

We had a similar situation between Washington and Oregon several years back. Oregon was like $30 fee yearly for any non commercial car or truck. Washington had a flat fee PLUS a value based excise tax. Many would establish a mailing address in Oregon as a way to avoid.

One year on a holiday weekend they set up cameras that recorded out of state plates leaving the greater Seattle area, then recorded out of states coming back into the same area at the end of the holiday, caught a ton of cheats.

The Highway Patrol also set up on south bound on ramps in the Vancouver, WA, area at 5:00 am to 8:00 am and pulled over Oregon plated cars and checked their registration. That resulted in the catching of many cheats.
I agree, wish they would go after big business with the same zeal, you would think the results would be worth it.

I'm not sure if this statement was made by a LEO in a previous post

"To bad for him I was curious"

Scares the heck out of me.....We are on a VERY slippery slope. But some will now come to defend this action because they simply don't know any better.

peaches&cream wrote:
Maybe westernrvparkowner is correct. Everyone that owns a RV should have a LLC in Mont. Our home states don't need the money. They just squander it anyway. The Legislators in Mont. can spend the money much better than our home states. Just think how great it would be if everyone had a LLC. You could put your auto's and home in it to avoid taxes. The LLC could purchase your groceries and even your fuel. Maybe we could become taxfree. :S

Where did I ever say it was OK to cheat on your taxes? Actually what I was referring to is the FACT it is illegal for the police to question and investigate people based only on the license plate on their vehicle. I happen to live in Montana. My RV has Montana plates. I would be fuming mad if I was singled out and forced to prove my residency because I happened to take my Motorhome to a football game in Iowa. No different than if someone with Georgia plates was stopped and their vehicle searched in Montana because someone decided that Atlanta was a hotbed for drug dealers so therefore anyone with Georgia plates is likely to be a drug smuggler.
I am sure that there are people who have homes in Iowa who have residences in multiple states. I am sure that there are Iowa residents who own RVs who have that RV in Iowa way less than the 90 day maximum that is spelled out under Iowa law. If these people choose to register the rig in another state, that is not tax evasion, that is simply using the tax codes to their advantage. It is no more cheating than itemizing all your deductions or claiming all your dependents.

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.

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.

Aaaaaaaaaaaa Mower you type faster than I do!! :B

MotorPro wrote:
I find it funny that people who cheat on their taxes or steal other ways can always come up with justification for being a crook.

Maybe I didn't see it, but I didn't see one post on here that advocates to "cheat on their taxes?" :h