Why Did I Get An Arlington County Parking Warning? What Should I Do?

[DrRuthie]

It actually really easy to resolve. Call the number on the letter and tell them you live in DC. Don't add any other info...just that you live in DC.

[RandomNovaGuy]

Simple - quit spending the night at your GF's place.

[roninsedge]

Let us know what happens when you try to resolve this. I am curious how difficult it is to get this cleared up. Personally, I feel you shouldn't have any problems and are the target of an overzealous neighbor.

[HDTBill]

I don't think either MD or DC charge annual "car tax" like Virginia does. Less than half the states do this, but for several states it's a relatively large annual car tax, including VA, ME, AZ, CT. Sometimes VA and CT are singled out as the worse but others do it, maybe 15-20 states have some car tax, in some states its not as big as Virginia's.

"Car tax" basically defined as annual property taxes, the FORM 1040 tax deductible portion of annual car fees (zero in many states).

[TheEggman]

We pay the car (Personal Property) tax down here in Stafford, but we don't get a sticker. The police are instructed in Alexandria, at least, No City Sticker, write a ticket.

[HDTBill]

In Northern Virginia our annual car tax is approx. 5% of car value which is an enormous tax. Thus former Govs Gilmore and Warner decided the state would pay a portion of this to the towns (only some people get tax relief, probably not non-residents).

Think about it: 5% per year is up to about 30% over the life of a car, so if you buy an average $33000 car you owe (in NOVA) up to about $10,000 bucks total taxes on a car, with the state paying maybe 30-40% of that for you, if you qualify.

Same car in DC could be $0 tax (sales_car tax free) if its Prius/hybrid or under $2000 total tax if its a regular car. So to stop people from registering out of state, most localities have the rule anyone who parks in town must pay the car tax. These days it's probably harder to legally register out of state, but my understanding this was common in the 1990's when Gilmore ordered tax relief to help relieve the burden.

Gilmore gets enormous criticism letting the state pay part of the car tax for vehicles, but holy cow if he had not done so, somebody else would have had to do something.

[Flamingo13]

How did this devolve into rants about the car tax?

[HDTBill]

...It's just the simple truth of the situation: if you're from out-of-state, you don't understand what you're dealing with. Almost no other state in region has this tax.

I realize many here feel taxes are critically needed to provide quality of life. I do not disagree with that idea. Just saying we got a hot one here you need to grasp.