ideola

Several years ago, I relocated to take a job in the Baltimore area. When we were trying to find a place to stay, I was stunned to learn about the personal property tax laws in MD and VA. Like others have posted, I'd never heard of property tax on anything other than your real estate.

We chose to live in PA. Exit 1 on I-83. I don't know if it's still the case, but at that time, PA had a very low state income tax (<3% IIRC), no tax on food, no tax on clothing, and no tax on shelter or other personal property. We had property tax on our home/property which funded the local and county gov't, and that was it. It was worth the 30 minute commute to save on the cost of living.

We've since moved back to MI.

BobSantos

NYS has a system for registration that slides based on vehicle weight, location and number of cylinders.

My W124 wagon, for instance, was a bit more than my old e21 BMW.

Here's the link explaining it:

http://www.dmv.ny.gov/regfee.htm

Not a "property tax" per se, even though they're taxing your property. It's a useage fee. Considering the quality of the roads in NY, either the fees are about 1/2 of what they should be or there's a lot of corruption and waste in the system.

ideola

I could be confusing it with VA...and now that I think about it, maybe it was MD that charged an "initial" property tax for any item you brought into the state...so if you had four used cars, you had to pay a tax on each one...kind of like a sales tax as if you had purchased the cars in MD the moment you took up residency there...

...details or fuzzy, it was almost 20 years ago now

VirginiaF1

Virginia's personal property tax on vehicles assesses a semi-annual tax based on wholesale value.
As such, my '88 escaped tax as the state now values it at just $900...
Last year, I paid $20 on a value of $1,200.

morghen

We have fair ownership tax for cars with under 2Liters engines. The tax is a bit expensive until 2.5L
After 2.5L the tax is quite high.

For my 924 2.0L turbo i pay around $70 per year.
For a 944 that would be about $270 per year.
For a 993 with an engine of 3.6L the ownership is around $1750 per year.
Tax for a 5.7L V8 would be around $3000 here.

we also have a first registration tax that goes about:
- $13200 for a 2L 924.
- $24000 for a 2.5L 944
- $47000 for a 3.6L 993
I paid approx $1700 first registration fee for my 1996 VW Golf TDI i bought from Germany.
The average edcated person earns about $700/month here..so dont complain about taxes

Grandpa#3

It just goes to show everyone that when it comes to being taxed, under any name you want to call it, you are being taxed. There is no way around it in any country. When I lived in the UK I even had to pay a Tax on my TV to watch any program. Don't bend over in front of a tax man because he's right there.

Cheers,
Larry

flash75

North Carolina has a annual vehicle tax. Plates are a fixed price $29. Several months later you get a vehicle tax bill.
86 Porsche 944 was $13.36 based on value of $1,660.
2008 Mazda 3 was $98.07 based on value of $12,680.
2011 Honda Fit was $137.57 based on value of $17,100.

We also have a highway use tax due at initial registeration. I brought the Porsche in From Colorado
and the Highway use tax was $33.90.
Highway use tax on the Honda Fit was $430.62.

Clifton

Fishey

I am pretty sure if they started to tax my cars I would laugh at the value given to them by the state.

morghen

HAHA ! we have that bull**** too !
i dont even own a TV or a RADIO in my house and i have to pay about $20 per year only because "i own a tv". When i told them i dont..they said its impossible and i have to pay the tax as everybody does.
So..taxed taxed taxed to the death

dontnow

Every state I have lived in has personal property tax. It is in your registration. A small portion goes to the actual registration and the rest is tax. It is deductible on your taxes as well. (At least it used to be, haven't seem the latest schedule A)