[The_Dark_One]

I already know that Florida doesn't have a state income tax. I have been interested in moving to Florida since I graduated college but haven't been able to find employment in my over-taxed northern state (Rhode Island). Even minimum wage jobs are completely scarce.

There's something I need to know about Florida. Does Florida tax your car indefinitely like Rhode Island?

A person could have bought a car in 1980 and in 2016 they would still be paying some sort of tax on it, and Rhode Island uses the highest amount above a blue-book value and above what a person could actually get from selling their car to another person by every reasonable calculation.

I heard that most states only charge a property tax on a person's car for the first four years, then no property tax on the car after those four years. I think those four years mean the first four years when the car was purchased so a 2010 car shouldn't be taxable. I have a 2016 car so I'm hoping to find an inexpensive place with low taxes and good opportunity for jobs. I also hope that by 2020 wherever I end up it isn't taxed anymore beyond four tax years: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

[kyle19125]

While Florida doesn't tax cars you may have the same difficulty finding a decent well-paying job here unless your in a high demand field like IT, healthcare or engineering. Florida has one of the highest ratios of applicants to living wage jobs (30K or more) in the country, so unless you can plan to save a good sum of money to live on for 8-10 months while looking for work wouldn't suggest planning to move here minus a job offer in place.

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

While Florida doesn't tax cars you may have the same difficulty finding a decent well-paying job here unless your in a high demand field like IT, healthcare or engineering. Florida has one of the highest ratios of applicants to living wage jobs (30K or more) in the country, so unless you can plan to save a good sum of money to live on for 8-10 months while looking for work wouldn't suggest planning to move here minus a job offer in place.

This!

[beachmouse]

The Florida tax code is a bit of a ponzi scheme that keeps taxes low on longtime residents by assuming that there will always be new arrivals in the state (steep taxes on registering a car for the first time and on buying and getting a mortgage/refinancing a mortgage) and that tourists paying sales and lodging taxes will account for about 15-20% of the government budget.

Once you're down here a bit, you start to see the benefits. Yes, we paid sales tax on the new car we bought in January 2016, but we were able to transfer the plate from the car we were trading for it for far less than the cost of a new plate, and the plate renewal for that new car in May 2016 was the usual $66 including 'Protect the Panther' specialty plate charge.

We're also paying maybe $150 more in property taxes a year than we were when we bought the house in 2001 even though its worth about twice what we paid for it. Gotta love the homestead exemption that helps offset in a tiny way the cost of homeowner's insurance here.

[d4g4m]

Taxes and spending. FL Constitution requires 'balanced budget' which means only what taxes are collected can be spent. FL Legislature just announced a $83 BILLION budget for the next fiscal year. That means they will collect and spend $227 MILLION A DAY. And that's only state expenditures. Add to that, your city/county taxes.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by d4g4m

Taxes and spending. FL Constitution requires 'balanced budget' which means only what taxes are collected can be spent. FL Legislature just announced a $83 BILLION budget for the next fiscal year. That means they will collect and spend $227 MILLION A DAY. And that's only state expenditures. Add to that, your city/county taxes.

About $12 per day per resident or about $4380.00 per year per resident. Not bad considering no State Income tax, which is what many people pay on top of all the other taxes and fees. There is a reason besides the beaches that FL is popular.

[chopchop0]

No, op,, no crazy car property tax like in CT, ky and other states.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by The_Dark_One

There's something I need to know about Florida. Does Florida tax your car indefinitely like Rhode Island?

There is a yearly car registration renewal tax, but it costs something like $50 per year, less a small discount if you pay two years at a time.

You know, you could have looked up that information yourself in a 15-second excursion through a search engine.

Maybe that's an indication of why you have trouble finding even a minimum wage job?

[mcharas]

Originally Posted by bale002

There is a yearly car registration renewal tax, but it costs something like $50 per year, less a small discount if you pay two years at a time.

You know, you could have looked up that information yourself in a 15-second excursion through a search engine.

Maybe that's an indication of why you have trouble finding even a minimum wage job?

That's just not nice... The OP came here asking as honest a question as possible... Be honest- we have all seen worse posts on CD.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by mcharas

That's just not nice... The OP came here asking as honest a question as possible... Be honest- we have all seen worse posts on CD.

Yes, we have.

But not only did I answer his question with precision, I was as honest as Abe. Is that not nice?