Registration for Texas (Austin: sales, car registration, insurance)

[Buckeye5b]

So I am a new resident here to Austin Tx. So I am having a hard time understanding why I have to pay a $90 new resident tax fee, thus for the first year I would have to pay $197 and some change.

Well I would like to know what would happen if I just renewed my plates from back home, hence they would only cost me $54 and some change. I don't see why I couldn't do this to be frank and tbh my driver's license still has over 3 years left on them. I was told that if you live here longer than 30 days you become a permanent resident and thus don't have to pay the $90 new resident fee. I don't know if this is true or not, but I am trying to figure out what I am going to do. As I spent a ton already moving down here. I have a job already. I just don't like the fact that the gov is taking a huge chunk of my money especially when I need to build my tanks back. Over the years I've always had a savings account, since I moved I don't have that now. So I am looking to save anyway I can.

I really don't get what they could do to me if I had my registration renewed back in Ohio and I had current plates.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me.

Please don't give me the just pay it thing, I really don't like to pay for stuff unless I have a good solid reason too. To me I don't think this $90 new to Texas thing should of ever happened in the first place. Every time I ask anyone about it they can't give me a good answer to why I have to pay for it. They say well thats what the comptroller says you have to pay. That's not a quality answer by no means.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

[A-Tex]

Because you are a Texas resident now and using our roads and services. You have 30 days to change your registration and license. It costs money to process your driver's license and registration.

You'll be in worse trouble if you ever get pulled over or have an accident and that will cost more than the $90. That will be nothing compared to the financial burden you'll experience if your insurance company refuses to pay any claims and drops you because you defrauded them.

You won't be able to take advantage of a variety of city, county and state services if you ever need them. You may also have trouble getting private services without a valid ID.

The only person responsible for your financial difficulties is you. Why do you expect Texans to carry your dead weight?

[Buckeye5b]

Originally Posted by A-Tex

Because you are a Texas resident now and using our roads and services. You have 30 days to change your registration and license. It costs money to process your driver's license and registration.

You'll be in worse trouble if you ever get pulled over or have an accident and that will cost more than the $90. That will be nothing compared to the financial burden you'll experience if your insurance company refuses to pay any claims and drops you because you defrauded them.

You won't be able to take advantage of a variety of city, county and state services if you ever need them. You may also have trouble getting private services without a valid ID.

The only person responsible for your financial difficulties is you. Why do you expect Texans to carry your dead weight?

No other state has this new resident fee, please tell me if you find this anywhere else. Bc there are no other states that do this. NONE. Again not a good reason to pay a $90 new resident fee. You sir probably have lived here all your life so you don't have to pay for it. So you probably don't care, if you have to pay it or not. That doesn't mean that we just give money over to the gov't and say here just take my money. No that must have a valid reason for it.

I've heard of several people not paying this at all and the gov't doesn't do anything to those people.

2ndly how do I know for certain that I want to become a permanent resident here?

Maybe if a government would have a little more transparency then people would be more understanding, but no I've seen too many times where the gov is always trying to get one over on us. Thus is why many people don't trust public officials anymore.

Btw roads and services are not paid by that money, even I know that. That money doesn't go towards the driver's license at all, thats a totally separate division. To me it seems like you have no idea what your talking about and just want to tell me to just pay it because x,y,z could happen. That isn't a valid excuse to charge someone money.

Btw what services could I ever need? I don't need food stamps, I don't need welfare, haven't been on that for years. Never used any services elsewhere, what services could I possibly need.

Also how do they even know when I moved here, there is no valid date to say that I moved here on a permanent basis.

Are you a liberal btw?

[Austin97]

this should be moved out of the austin forum into the broader texas forum.

[10scoachrick]

You would be really hacked off if you moved to Georgia and had to pay 7% of the value of each vehicle in order to register them! Texas is a bargain by comparison...

//www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...tand-tavt.html

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by pbracing33b

So I am a new resident here to Austin Tx. So I am having a hard time understanding why I have to pay a $90 new resident tax fee, thus for the first year I would have to pay $197 and some change.

Well I would like to know what would happen if I just renewed my plates from back home, hence they would only cost me $54 and some change. I don't see why I couldn't do this to be frank and tbh my driver's license still has over 3 years left on them. I was told that if you live here longer than 30 days you become a permanent resident and thus don't have to pay the $90 new resident fee. I don't know if this is true or not, but I am trying to figure out what I am going to do. As I spent a ton already moving down here. I have a job already. I just don't like the fact that the gov is taking a huge chunk of my money especially when I need to build my tanks back. Over the years I've always had a savings account, since I moved I don't have that now. So I am looking to save anyway I can.

I really don't get what they could do to me if I had my registration renewed back in Ohio and I had current plates.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me.

Please don't give me the just pay it thing, I really don't like to pay for stuff unless I have a good solid reason too. To me I don't think this $90 new to Texas thing should of ever happened in the first place. Every time I ask anyone about it they can't give me a good answer to why I have to pay for it. They say well thats what the comptroller says you have to pay. That's not a quality answer by no means.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

$90 is the sales tax on your vehicle.


"As a new resident, you also will pay sales tax-related fees required by the state's Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sales tax fees on a vehicle can be $90 or the difference between your previous state's sales tax and the Texas sales tax."

TXDMV.GOV - New to Texas


"New Texas residents are subject to a $90 use tax on a vehicle brought into this state that was previously registered to the
new resident in another state or foreign country. This is in lieu of the 6.25 percent use tax imposed on a Texas resident."


http://www.txdmv.gov/component/docma...tle?Itemid=232


So you're actually getting off massively easy. Paying $90 instead of 6.25%.

[Trainwreck20]

*shrug* It is your risk. Insurance does base your rates by where you live, so if you do have an accident and the insurance company determines you have misrepresented your location, they could refuse to pay. If you do update your insurance, then there is a record of when you relocated to Texas.

Honestly, most people do not meet the 30-day requirements; however, most do manage to get everything done within a year. And while you can complain about the fees or taxes in any given place, Texas generally has a lower overall tax burden. The fact that you do not pay that fee in another state is likely due to the fact that the cost is rolled into a (higher) annual registration fee or other cost.

[lepoisson]

Don't complain. When I moved to Missouri a few years ago, I had to pay a tax based on the value of my vehicle. I was driving a new car at the time and the fee was close to $500. And guess what, you are still stuck paying county property tax based on the vehicle's value.

It was exactly $200 to register my car here in Texas. Probably not as cheap as some states, but certainly cheaper than most.

10scoachrick mentioned Georgia. They are the worst with taxes. My former supervisor moved to Georgia and had purchased and owned her car for about a year in another state. TAVT was around $1200. Any time you buy a car in Georgia, you have to pay this tax. Luckily you don't have to pay any more tax after original purchase.

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by pbracing33b

So I am a new resident here to Austin Tx. So I am having a hard time understanding why I have to pay a $90 new resident tax fee, thus for the first year I would have to pay $197 and some change.

Well I would like to know what would happen if I just renewed my plates from back home, hence they would only cost me $54 and some change. I don't see why I couldn't do this to be frank and tbh my driver's license still has over 3 years left on them. I was told that if you live here longer than 30 days you become a permanent resident and thus don't have to pay the $90 new resident fee. I don't know if this is true or not, but I am trying to figure out what I am going to do. As I spent a ton already moving down here. I have a job already. I just don't like the fact that the gov is taking a huge chunk of my money especially when I need to build my tanks back. Over the years I've always had a savings account, since I moved I don't have that now. So I am looking to save anyway I can.

I really don't get what they could do to me if I had my registration renewed back in Ohio and I had current plates.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me.

Please don't give me the just pay it thing, I really don't like to pay for stuff unless I have a good solid reason too. To me I don't think this $90 new to Texas thing should of ever happened in the first place. Every time I ask anyone about it they can't give me a good answer to why I have to pay for it. They say well thats what the comptroller says you have to pay. That's not a quality answer by no means.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

It's not a new resident fee, it's a sales / use tax for the CAR you are now titling / registering in Texas. It's really not that bad considering that it is given to new residents instead of having to pay the full percentage on the value of the vehicle. Whether you should have to pay tax multiple times on a vehicle is a valid question, but most states do charge something to transfer.

When I moved here I was happy to do it, but I also wanted to make sure I had an airtight residency case so my old state couldn't try to charge me income tax after I moved.

So you moved here with so little savings that this is going to break you? That isn't anyone's fault but your own. Moving here and instantly complaining about the way things are done isn't going to win over a lot of people either. You are also confirming every negative stereotype I've had about Ohio people.

You're the type of transplant that gives us all a bad name.

[Rustybolt]

Texas doesn't have a state income tax, but your former state of Ohio does. I don't hear you complaining about that. In the grand scheme of things you will be ahead when it comes to taxes and fees. Car registration is different in every state and you just have to comply. When I was in the military it was just part of the deal since we moved so often. Chagrined as I was, I had to pay the new resident fee on my vehicles when I retired and returned to Texas...and I was born here and had a Texas Driver License, albeit with an address in Florida on it.