pfan

Speaking of crazy DMV fees, my blood boils every time I'm reminded of the PNO (planned non-operation) fees here in CA. Believe it or not, if you elect not to register and operate your vehicle for the next year, you have the privilege of paying the DMV a fee. Gotta love it.

Tcc1999

Meter maids, although I suppose they prefer "Parking Enforcement" here in the Bay Area, also ticket. I think the fee is around $35 - they'll even knock off $10 if you prove that you put a front plate on (yes, that was sarcastic). The thing is, here in CA I am pretty sure that no front plate are separate municipal and state violations. In Berkeley the fine is $35 written by a Meter Maid as a violation of the local vehicle code. If the CHP writes you up I have heard that the fine is ~$200. When I'm parked in a local jurisdiction (on a public street) that enforces no front plate I just use a bit of painters tape to affix the plate somewhere on the front of the car. In the absence of any local tickets I assume it has worked so far.

sandbar

That's actually a darn good idea. I'll start carrying the plate and tape with me for those quick needs. Thanks for the tip!

ufischer

Anything you would save in registration fees would likely be eaten up in extra insurance costs. Getting insurance in the name of a business is quite expensive, at least in Florida. The reason people register cars in the name of their business has more to do with tax savings based on full depreciation. Leases are particularly well-suited for this.

MKW

I have read that states with low or no sales or income taxes have very high property taxes vs California ..they get you one way or the other

here in Calif, due to our " tax revolt" Prop 13 passed in 1978 , long time owners of many homes now worth say , 30 -50 million dollars , that they bought for half a million bucks 45 yrs ago pay much much less prop tax than a new homeowner who lives in half million dollar condo bought recently , but even then, once you buy , your assessed value cannot rise more than 2% per year ever, due to prop 13, even if value rises 10- 20 % in a year like many places here recently and the max property tax can never be higher than 1% of assessed value ..a SWEET deal for Bay Area and SoCal homeowners traditonal areas that will always have high and rising real estate values ...not so sweet for those inland , but outnumber them !

same goes for our commercial real estate ...many long time owners of now 100 + million dollar apt complexes pay almost nothing and are " printing money " raking in rents of $5000 per month for each tiny 2 bedroom apt

of course , our public infrastructure and our public schools went from top 5 nationally to eventually bottom 5 starting in ......1978 .

otoh, I have saved 1.5 million dollars on property taxes on my primary residence alone which I have owned for 20 yrs ...it is currently max-assessed at 1.6x what I paid for it, but its real market value is 7x what I paid !

folks in other states can call it the " Peoples Republik of California " all they want, but for property owners , we'll gladly pay a few hundred bucks more of DMV fees , etc., any any day , Lol !

Valkuri

Pffft. Government officials lie to us; the OP will lie on an official government document. In a completely untraceable fashion.
Don't think of it as law breaking; think of it as sort of a 'yin & yang' thing.

There is, BTW a solution to the obscene taxes and fees people get stuck with in California, not to mention Illinois and New York.
Its called 'Arizona'.

Valkuri

I've read that space aliens disguised as humans walk among us. But I don't believe everything I read, either.

My property taxes dropped EIGHTY PERCENT from Illinois to Arizona. My license fees doubled or so. Sales tax is 8 percent or so; yours?
And state income tax is nothing close to California nor New York. Worth. It.

I'm sure its worth it for all of those people now worth $25 million.
For the rest of us 98%, I'd rather blow my brains out than live in California.

MKW

Illinois is nice if you live along Sheridan Road or in Hinsdale .

Northern Arizona...Flagstaff in winter and Sedona in summer are very , very pretty .

I , unfortunately , live in California so must suffer driving the Pacific Coast Highway minutes from my front door so frequently need to get up to my place on Lake Tahoe when I get bored with The Ocean and need to rejuvenate myself at The Lake in the Sky .

Valkuri

Twelve minutes to work. No traffic. 38 mile mountain horizon.
Deep desert, near a large lake. Keeps the riff raff out of town.
To each his own.

MKW

..

MKW

Scottsdale and environs demographically remind me of Blackhawk in the Bay Area or Barrington / Oak Brook in Chicagoland .

Taliesin West is a must see for all visitors

Homeles

Ah, California. Land of fruits and nuts. Overpriced property and they think they've found their rainbow. NC=3% tax on cars, property taxes on a $1.3M house @ $2500, $600 for reg on a $130K car, Need I say more? I'll stay on the right coast!

STG

Where in AZ? Nice

Archimedes

Please spread the word. High taxes, liberals, drought, earthquakes, mudslides... Tell everyone. They'll hate it here. Don't come.

MKW

I agree ....just give us your SF and Tahoe tourist dollars , then get the hell " outta here " like our local baseball home run call and your give- away ginormous sweat- panted rear ends are visually polluting to boot ...really !