Car tax? (mortgage, credit card, student loan)

[chicagoerin]

Hi, I am not sure what it it called or if "tax" is the right word, but I just moved here and understand that I might have to pay hundreds of dollars a year to drive my car? Can anyone tell me what this is and where I go to estimate how much my vehicle will cost me? I have lived in Il and OH and have never heard of such a thing! How does this fee benefit me? Where does the money go?
Thanks
Erin

[billiken]

MO calls it a personal property tax. It's still kind of a mystery to me as well. You'll go to the county collector's office or whatever when you register your car in MO. They'll give you a statement saying you don't owe any money, and you'll bring that along with a bunch of other documents to the DMV. As far as I know, this is how they know you own a car/should pay tax on it.

As for the tax rate, I've been able to find a "St Louis County Rate Book," but it's obviously not meant for the everyday person to use. Using this and my fiance's past year tax bill as a guide, I've figured out that you can find your tax district, and then your Personal Property tax rate is listed as the total under the "PP" column. I have no idea how they figure out the assessed value of your car. Both my fiance and I drive older cars, so the assesed value is pretty low. Last year, fiance paid around $100 for the year.

As far as I know, since I registered my car this year, I don't pay any tax this year, but I'll get a bill in 2011.

ETA: Here's a link to that lovely 1000+ page tax rate book I found: http://revenue.stlouisco.com/collection/TaxRates.aspx
Obviously only applicable if you live in St Louis County.

[BoomBoxing]

It's called "Personal Property Tax" . This website should answer most of your questions:

Motor Vehicle - Additional Help Resource

Although how this fee benefits you is a tricky question. Missouri has some of the lowest gasoline and cigarette taxes in the country so you benefit if you drive a lot or smoke. MO also has fairly low state income taxes. Also, we have so many well maintained highways that traffic jams are mostly a non issue except at peak rush hour on a couple of highways. Generally speaking you probably aren't paying more in taxes (or at least not much more), it's just moved around in different ways. There are some high taxes states in the USA but Missouri is definitely not one of them.

[chicagoerin]

thanks very much for the great info!

[Thepreacherswife]

If you moved here after January 1, you won't owe any personal property tax on the car. When you go to get your plates, you'll have to go to the tax assessor's office and certify that you weren't a Missouri resident on Jan 1. Then you'll get a piece of paper that you'll use to get your plates. Without that piece of paper or a paid property tax receipt, you can't get Missouri plates.

[zach_33]

We have figured it is basically one extra car payment per year. So if your car payment is $300 per month for four years, then once per year you will have to pay an extra $300 for your personal property tax, though that amount does decrease with the fair market value of your vehicle. So once you have paid it off you might expect to pay only $200 or $150 per year, since the asset has depreciated. I find it strange that I have to pay personal property taxes on my car, the same way I do on my house, yet I cannot write off the interest paid on a car loan. Better left to accountants and lawyers to figure out I guess.

[billiken]

I'm pretty sure you can deduct the personal property taxes though, if you itemize.

A lot of the tax code is written to encourage/discourage certain behaviors. Home ownership & furthering your education is generally considered to be a good thing, hence the deduction of mortgage interest & student loan interest. More "frivilous" debt (credit card, auto loan) is seen as something to be discouraged (or at least something that doesn't need to be encouraged), so no deduction.

[lbo1212]

I know the date on this post is old but for those looking for info also note that if you move they will expect you to pay the whole tax for that year.

I think that is utterly ridiculous and when I asked if this still applied to someone that lived in the state for just one day the answer was "Yes, thats just how it is". Lived there for 6 months in 2011 and paying for 12.

[STLCityMike]

OK - I'll comment here as well. You mentioned in another post that you lived here two years. I want to start by pointing this out.

The personal propertry tax is paid in arrears. Your payment in 2011 was for they use of the property in 2010. That is why you are expected to pay the tax on property you own 12/31/2010. If you move away during any part of 2011 - you are not required to pay taxes for use in 2011. Therefore, you got the benefit of use in 2011 without taxes .. and you want to complain?

The scenario in which to complain would be WHEN you moved here mid year, and the following year had to pay taxes on the full amount.

That is my understanding of the personal property tax, and I hope it helps.