Not talking about farmers - and tobacco doesn't get much of a tax break anymore (quite the opposite), I'm talking about people that own large, multi million dollar estates in northern VA (and the rest of the state, but there is where the really expensive ones are). They would much rather pay higher property taxes on their cars than on their 8 figure estates. Tax on a $300k Ferrari is nothing compared to that on a $10-20 million worth of Madison estate and Fairfax townhouse.
The property tax rate for homes in Loudoun County, VA is 1.08% of assessed value. Car tax is 4.2%. So, if your cars are worth more than a quarter of your house, then you pay more in car taxes than house taxes. .
And if you have multiple expensive cars.....you will pay more in car tax than you do in taxes for your house.
This applies to so few people it doesnt matter. The car/property tax and the sales tax are egregious. justify it anyway you want it is BS. Moreover they base values on NADA which is more BS. If you have 10+ year old cars no problem otherwise they are f ducking us.
MD is 6% sales. That's a one time deal then the registration is a couple hundred bucks on $400K car. MD sucks but VA really sucks. I see no reason to live there outside of work if you must.
They will eventually have to switch to taxing property that can't be moved out of town as the car in general will die off. Plus, taxing land and buildings would provide a more stable source of revenue. I'm sure they waste funds like almost every other state so they could easily find ways to need less taxes that way anyway, but that would be crazy talk.
I mean, that's the whole reason they did it - high property values will have low taxes vs. not having the car tax at all, it would shift the tax burden up. Not many of those people with $10 million dollar estates have $2.5 million worth of new cars. If the tax was equal - say 2.5% on both, property owners would be spending a lot more as there wouldn't be a bunch of renters with cars (especially in NoVA) supplementing their taxes. WAY more people own cars than houses/property.
Also, MD will give you credit for tax paid on a trade, VA sticks it to you every time you buy a car so you are taxed multiple times on the same money spent. It is really egregious but how do you fight it? You just have to move which I will be doing soon.
Sounds like Georgia is getting tough on this. Here's SuperSpeederRob's take: Brings up some good points.
Look at the bright side. When we have electric self-driving cars, likely that fewer people will actually own them. So they will be forced to change the car tax to a sales tax or real property tax. Hopefully there will still be gas for us to buy for our Ferraris.
The main issue as always is tax revenue and that's it. Every american citizen knows that the local, state, and federal governments are forever searching for new and better ways to come up with ways to collect more from those that have the funds. Tax the rich, and many lawyers will be at your doorstep. That usually doesn't end well. Tax the poor, yeah right. Blood from a stone. So as always the working middle and upper middle class get hit. They don't have the time or resources to fight policy, (oh yeah, they can call their local representative) now that's funny. So until that class group has a fire sale, turns all of their assets into cash and joins the poor, they will continue to get it. But at least when they are poor on paper they are eligible for free groceries, free health care etc ect. I know there are folks in this country that think there will come a day when the 1% ers will pay for everything. I call that group "Dreamers".
the state of Virginia used to have a boat property tax bill and it was driving boats out of Va. the marina association got together and they built a case of why they should get rid of boat property tax and eventually won .. the marina I kept my boat at went from being mostly empty in the winter to being mostly full.. these are boats that were 40 to 70 feet in length.... I think they need to do something similar to that for high end cars maybe have a cap I mean I bought a 911 GT3 and the first years personal property tax was $5500 this came 6 months after I paid 4.5% in sales tax of $8000 and there is NO credit for trade ins ... truly ridiculous.....
I see a number of Montana plates at our local cars and coffee in Maryland and haven’t caught up with the owners to ask why. If a VA resident I understand, but if Maryland I don’t get it. Pay sales tax and done. Just plates after that. I have family in Montana and could easily register there but I don’t see the benefit.
We register all our vehicles in Montana. It's no big deal in TN as there is no silly property tax on cars here. It does save a BUNDLE on sales tax though.
So how is this not tax evasion? The sole purpose is to avoid tax. Rather than break the law, how about folks organizing to change the laws?
Does anyone have an update on the court cases in GA/VA? Montana Plates were been a tax avoidance strategy that wasn't court tested for the longest time, I'm curious how it shook out.
They are on the look out, but it is not illegal to have a car registered in another state and drive it in VA. I own homes in FL and VA. Obviously FL is cheaper on the property taxes. If pulled over in VA and asked about the plate versus my VA driver's license the proper answer is "I have it up here for a week or so for a car show, then bringing it back to FL". That is not illegal and nothing they can do unless that same officer nabs you a month later or something. This advice was given to me by local Ferrari dealer. Because what they are after is if the car is garaged in VA for a certain length of time in a year.
Does anyone know if this is an issue with a business as well. My business operates in the VA, but the corporation is based in ND with a ND address (i.e. corporation that has an ACTUAL address in ND). The trucks are lettered up with the local entity's namesake, but owned by the other corporation. The people that will be driving them are VA residents with licenses for this state. I don't way to be harassed and we are getting ready to replace a few vehicles here coming up and I want to register them in ND. We pay tax (i.e. sales tax) there, but its just so much easier without the emissions and inspections as well. Don't get me wrong, we save money on it with the personal property tax, but it is a time saver too.
I think they are mostly looking for high end cars with Montana plates while the owner clearly lives in VA.
I hope you are right. Virginia is an under cover gestapo type state with this stuff. You expect the states like New York, California, Connecticut, and New Jersey to be like this...but VA sneaks up on you and is worse in some cases.