Vehicle taxes where you live... how bad?

Where I live in Connecticut, Personal Property Tax is based on Value at $31.50 per thousand.....this is on your Camper, Cars, Boats....anything that is registered, and is billed yearly....only good thing, is that as value goes down, so do the taxes....$200,000 Coach = $6,300 in taxes the first year

Ridgerunner29 wrote:
I moved from Tennessee to South Carolina last fall and had a vehicle registration nightmare. I have a 2500 truck, two cars and one a 2002 travel trailer that is worth about 15K. In Tennessee my cars and trucks where $69.50 each per year in the county I lived. The travel trailer was around $15. The truck is a 2012, one car is a 2013 Honda CRV, other car is a 2007 Mazda. My first registration was $1371 in Greenville County SC. The cashier told me I could expect more of the same next year. I have no idea how this is calculated.

Business taxes may be lower in SC ( I don't know) but a working person pays much more in taxes in SC as compared to TN. SC has a sales tax with a possible local option, personal property tax, and state income tax. I estimate it is costing me close to $5000 in extra taxes for may first year in SC. I hope it improves over time.

I bought four new trucks in TN since 2008. I know I am not inspired to buy a new truck with the SC registration costs.

If you'd known what you were going to be treated to on license plates and ad valorem taxes, you could have moved to Lavonia, GA and commuted.

The Georgia State line is 45 miles from Greenville--all Interstate 85. You're even closer to North Carolina, but NC is about like South Carolina in total taxation.

I moved from Atlanta to NW Alabama because of the incredible Tennessee River. We have 2% sales tax on autos and RV's. No property taxes are assessed on my real estate since my wife's disabled. If I paid property taxes, they'd be about $600 on a new 3500 square ft. house on 3.7 acres. Social Security and defined pension income is not taxed on state income taxes.

Alabama politicians have listened when the public demands low taxation. But of course, our schools are crap.

Oklahoma, on non-commerical cars and trucks (motorhomes are considered passenger cars):

No sales tax.
No property tax if registered as a vehicle.
Excise tax, one time, 3.25% of purchase price.
Title fee, one time, $11.
Annual registration fee, $91 the first four years registered in the state, stepping down in increments to $21 after 17 years.
Small additional mail fees if you renew tags by mail.

New license plate: $3

Private trailers, licensing is optional, no titles required. But you will pay sales tax on the purchase, which might be as much as 9%, at least 4%. If you choose to tag a trailer, annual fee is $7.

Separate rules and fees for farm trucks and farm trailers. The latter might be unregistered as a private trailer, but if used for farming it can be taxed as personal property if not registered as a vehicle.

Different categories for assorted commercial vehicles, but generally low enough that companies operating in multiple states often choose to register in Oklahoma, particularly companies in both Oklahoma and Kansas.

On the other hand, some Oklahomans on the Red River might be tempted to register their private vehicles in Texas, if they are able to register in a city/county that does not have license fees over and above the state fees.

Our sales tax is 8.4%. This is on the high side but, for us, the lack of a state income tax offsets it.

campingken wrote:
Our 2003 3500 Dodge, 2009 Toyota Tacoma and 2013 Featherlite horse trailer cost us a total of $230. However we did kick in extra $ for the state parks and bought a $30 get into all state parks and land pass.

Don't forget about the cool 9.5-9.8% tax you forked over on each piece when you titled them the first time! WA knows how to charge for vehicles and Toyz!
Maybe it's less on the peninsula?

I just a new Ram 3500. I paid 6% sales tax. Because the GVWR was 14k, I had to get commercial tags @$160/yr vs $140 /2yrs (combination tags).......I can't wait to get this falls property tax from the town. My 5er is $208/yr tax and $75/2yrs. New Ram is gonna be plenty $$.

NJRVer,

Similar to Michigan as our property taxes are calculated on 50% of basic home valuation/neighborhood home values minus $25,000 for the (one home) homestead deduction if you own your home and actually live in it. Owned a rented doesn't get the $25,000 deduction as it's a business. Then the taxes are calculated at X mills per final $1000 taxable valuation.

It basically works this way: If the home is valued at say $100,000 which is almost always below market value because the valuation is modified by the surrounding homes/neighborhood home values and their final selling price history which is always in the past. Homes in our area appreciate constantly but some state have had a real bust in home selling prices and have not lowered the taxable value like Florida for instance, explained below.

Back to the local basic property tax information.

Then the 50% assessed value would be $50,000 on the $100,000 home and if you live in it is further reduced by $25,000 homestead meaning your taxes are calculated on only $25,000 adjusted taxable valuation. If the total tax rate for your city or township jurisdiction is 35 mills/1000 then your annual property tax would be $875. (35 times 25 = 875)

Explained for above: Homes in our area appreciate constantly and didn't even lose 5% in selling prices during the last recession but have quickly surpassed the previous selling prices. However, some states have had a real bust in home selling prices and have not yet lowered the taxable values. Like parts of Florida for instance, where home prices had dropped 30% to 50% in many areas since 2008 and are just starting to edge up now. Many of our family down there, now retired since 2008 - just in time by the way, were subdivision developers etc/land/golf course/condos/trailer parks/marina developers in several counties and in just one area of a county in Florida have over 22,000 living in their connected developements of 5 big projects that took nearly 20 years to complete. My brother's fancy gated 2200 sq ft retirement home built in 2001 on 1.75 acres in a high class area was valued at $640,000 before 2008 and now wouldn't sell for even $350,000 but they won't lower his assessed valuation saying it will return to even a higher valuation than $640,000 in a few years. That was back in 2011 and has barely inched up so far so he'll never see it but pays anyway. Many homes in the area have sold for even less than that and so many have been foreclosed on and short sold. His Annual taxes are more than 3-1/2 times ours and yet he couldn't sell his home for as much as we can ours. He and his wife (in very poor health) and going on 83 and not going to sell anyway but their property taxes based on valuation now are very wrong.

Insurance rates for homes and vehicles have gone bezerk in the last less than 10 years down there also and makes us so happy we'd got rid of our place down there in 2007 and only RV there in winter now. Paying out 12 months a year and only using it 2-3 months dosen't make financial sense and especially not with the escalated prices, taxes, and insurance costs.

Ridgerunner29 wrote:

UsualSuspect wrote:
I have found most states are about the same when you take everything into consideration, they get their money one way or another, the only difference is how they collect it, and what they collect it on. While some complain about high license plates, others complain about higher property taxes.

But some states vs. other states appear to take a higher percentage from working people and a lower percentage from businesses to balance the budgets. SC vs TN seems to be an example I have experienced.

So what does "personal property tax" mean?
If I own a fleet of 25 commercial pickups in SC, I don't pay "personal property tax" on them?
I wondered how that works business vs personal.

travelnutz wrote:
pitch,

15.82% property taxes is way beyond insane! Sure caught my eye!

Just looked up our property taxes and the replacement value our home owners insurance lists is $457,000 replacement. Our state equalized 50% taxable value is $168,800. Our yearly property taxes paid in year 2013 were $1,621.54 total or about 1% of the state equalized taxable value. At your NJ 15.82% tax rate our property taxes would be $26,704 plus service fee for 2013 and each year. No personal property tax here in Michigan. Even a $50,000 50% taxable value home would be $7,910 each year and what can you get for a livable home for $100,000 in NJ?

How could someone pay those kind of insane yearly property taxes for a 2800 sq ft ranch walkout on a 1/2 acre of land like ours in New Jersey? Could your taxes actually be 1.582%? Just wondering because 15.82% sounds incredibly high. I know all taxes are high on the East and West Coast states but really. Add in sales taxes and vehicle registration yearly fees and the total would be more than most people even make clear after deductions each year and that doesn't include health ins or other mandated monthly/yearly costs and eating, clothes, vehicle fuel and don't forget the mortgage payments or someone won't have to pay the taxes on a foreclosed home.

Property tax rates vary depending on what municipality you live in.
They are figured in terms of $x.xx per $100 of valuation.
I had a customer who lives in Princeton, NJ and paid $24,000 a year property tax on his house back in '93. I can't even imagine what it would be now.

4bearhug wrote:
Every state has a different way to skin the cat. Indiana has low property taxes, but gouges you on annual plates for vehicles based upon age and original cost of vehicle. This can easily run you $400+ per vehicle. The real kicker is how they value RVs. They use the MSRP which has no basis is the actual selling price, but gives the state a higher number to use for their calculation. This is a real shocker for the new RV when they go for plates.

I don't know that our property taxes are low.

Regardless, they were just capped at 1% of assessed value a few years ago because of the uproar. Oddly enough, the assessed value has really jumped since then. For us, at least.

The license plate fees are outrageous in Indiana.

For our 2013 Silverado, our 2014 Honda Accord, our 2006 Honda Accord, and our 2013 Rockwood TT, our plates run $1,300.

Indiana is a state that now has a legislature and a governor who both claim to be about "cutting taxes" and "smaller government," yet I have yet to see any movement to cut taxes, even with our $2 Billion surplus. What I HAVE seen is lots of posturing about gay marriage.

Look at Tennessee. I think that is a state that is doing it right in regards to taxes and they aren't all that dissimilar.