California DMV weight fee

atwowheelguy wrote:

smokeylew wrote:
Man did I just get a shock. Opened my vehicle registration renewal notice for my 2016 Ram 3500 diesel and found a $308 weight fee. Add that to the license fee and all the other gobble gook and I'm shelling out $778 clams! :M

I did some research online and it appears that my truck is rated commercial and the only way to get it reclassified is make the bed permanently unusable by bolting in a camper that can never be taken out.

Have any of you guys gotten the same shock as I have? Is this just a California thing? Don't think this is fair but after thinking about all the $200 and $300 pops I've made each year for special this or thats, the $308 is cool just to be able to hear my diesel brakes rumble as I come down the hill. I can sell myself on most anything . . . Just don't tell my wife!

Sorry for your circumstance. I guess it's not for nothing it's called Taxifornia. That's your punishment for being successful enough to own a nice vehicle. I have to pay $166 in GA every year for the privilege of owning a little camper trailer.

The governor of CA is probably upset that the state has fallen to 10th place in tax burden. Proposition 13 handcuffed the state to keep them from raising property taxes, so they have to really soak everyone paying every other kind of taxes.

Prop. 13 does not stop the State from raising prop. taxes, far from it.
Prop.13 limits tax increases to a little over 1%/year. So since Prop. 13 passed, property taxes have increased a minimum of 40%. Prop. 13 really only benefits those of us that have owned property prior to 1978.
If you are a new property owner, you will get hammered. I just sold 80 acres, I paid 100/acre, I paid $80/year in property taxes.. The new owner is paying $6600/year. Now that is a property tax increase.
The new owner will see a 1% increase/year until they die or sell the property.
In addition, it used to be that it required a 2/3 vote to raise taxes.
Calif. has found a way around that. Now a tax increase is called a bond, which requires a 55% vote. As a result, most people a paying more in property tax assessments, parcel taxes etc. than they are in actual property taxes.