Personal Property Tax on my paid off car? (Washington: sales, vehicle registration)

[Dthraco]

So this is fun.

Let me get this straight, we get to pay personal property tax on a paid-off car for perpetuity while we own it here in Virigina Beach?

[BOS2IAD]

Not only in VA beach but AFAIK the entire state. Of course as your car ages and depreciates, the amount of tax you pay gets smaller.

[Flamingo13]

It's an asset - doesn't matter that it's paid off!! Home owners pay property tax ever year.

[Dthraco]

Thanks for the responses.

It’s a depreciating asset to begin with, adding an annual tax after paying sales tax to purchase it only adds insult to injury.

Property tax is different because property is connected to the land the state is in charge of. That one makes sense.

Overall it’s not that different than registration fees in other states, I was just surprised to get a new kind of tax that I have not seen in other states. <rant over>

[webster]

In VA, don't know about other states, fees are for a specific purpose, while taxes go into a more general "bucket" of money. Vehicle registration fees are state (not local) fees used to fund in part the Commonwealth Transportation Fund (then divided up between the Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund and the Transportation Trust Fund); hence its a fee for a specific purpose; the personal property tax is used by the locality for projects the local government decides on (a bucket for general purposes, hence a tax and not a fee).

Under Governor Allen (1994-1998), the car tax was reduced with the Commonwealth reimbursing the localities for lost revenue, but full funding to remove the entire tax has never been found and hence has not been implemented. The first year the legislation to reduce the tax was implemented, the hit to the general fund was $260,000,000 (that is millions). Multiply that by 22 years and inflation and its been a substantial hit to the general fund in the range of $40+ billion. (I think I the compounding and math right right be off a bit, but the idea - that its a lot of $ - is clear.)

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by Dthraco

So this is fun.

Let me get this straight, we get to pay personal property tax on a paid-off car for perpetuity while we own it here in Virigina Beach?

D, Honestly, it used to be even worse. You paid your vehicle property tax, and paid for a city sticker that had to be placed on your windshield.

If a police officer saw a car with Virginia tags, but no city sticker, you could get pulled & ticketed.
I actually got a ticket one time even tho I had my city sticker.. but I also had a previous year's city sticker (that was hard to scrape off). So even tho I had proof of (consecutive) tax payments, it was a code violation to display multiple city stickers. Good times..

[webster]

The enforcement mechanism has changed. Failure to pay personal property tax will result in the locality placing a hold with DMV for registration renewal on all vehicles registered under the owner's name, includes titles where there are multiple owners listed. Thus, when stopped by law enforcement, a ticket will be issued for improper registration. When renewing the registration, DMV will not do it until the locality removes the hold. Interest, penalties, and other fees would apply creating a cascade effect. In some localities there is a DMV select office at the county courthouse so this can all be done without a separate trip to the DMV.

[luv4horses]

NC has a similar tax. It’s based on the yearly estimated value of the vehicle so it decreases with time.

[getatag]

Here is a list of states with no yearly personal property tax on vehicles:

New Mexico
New York
Tennessee
Washington
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Wisconsin
Texas
Vermont
Illinois
Maryland
Alaska
Oregon
Oklahoma
Delaware
Georgia
Florida
Hawaii
Ohio
Utah

[Dthraco]

Originally Posted by getatag

Here is a list of states with no yearly personal property tax on vehicles:

Haha, and that explains my surprise having only lived in some of those states. Thanks for the info! Not moving, I rather like it here, but good info.