Vehicle taxes where you live... how bad?

Second Chance wrote:

Gdetrailer wrote:

Second Chance wrote:
I live in Aiken County, SC. Last year when we purchased our new tow vehicle - a 2013 Sierra 2500HD SLT crew cab 2WD with the DuraMax - the sales taxes weren't bad at all (I mean really reasonable). Registering the truck was a bit surprising when I had to pay an extra $200 to get the registered/licensed combined weight up to what the truck and RV weigh together (yes - required in SC). The real shocker came last week with the tag renewal notice... including city, county and state taxes (and the measly $20 tag fee), it came to $1,285! That's for one year's taxes and registration! This is almost exactly the amount I pay in taxes on our 4-bedroom, eight-year-old home. Anyone else live someplace with robbery - oops, I mean "ad valorum" vehicle taxes - this bad? This is making going full-time next year and establishing Texas residency look really good...

Let me get this straight.. You have been living in SC and didn't understand that you WILL pay a PROPERTY TAX ON YOUR NEW VEHICLE?

I have relatives that have been living in SC since the 1960s so I am familiar a bit with the property tax thing.

Autos, boats, RV trailers and such are in on this.

The property tax paid on vehicles depreciates over time, I am not sure exactly when but it DOES drop to ZERO (perhaps 8-10 years).

It is for that reason that many folk in SC tend to buy and hold on to OLDER vehicles..

Gdetrailer,

Your tone is just a bit condescending. Yes, I moved across the river from GA several years ago after my first wife was killed. The taxes and tags on my '05 Tahoe ran about $160 a year. It just came as a shock that moving to a 3/4 ton 2013 would make an eight-fold difference - and a much higher rate than for my home (which I also own and pay taxes on).

Sorry to hear about your first wife..

But if you have been living and working within a area you tend to hear things from coworkers, friends and so on..

I don't live in SC but my occasional visits over the years I tend to learn a lot about the area I am visiting and that is for only several days to a week at a time. Over the many years of my time spent in SC would be less than 5 years total..

The property tax thing is often talked about so it is a well known item in SC.. Word gets around about it. Give it a few years and your bill will start going down.