Ad volarem taxes? (buy, university, income)

[mollybygolly]

From what I've read, the "wheel tax" is every year added on to the price of your tags, so around $70-$75 total per year.
Sales tax on vehicles appears to be the same as the state sales tax rate.
Unless I am missing something?
Not arguing, just curious!
I want to make an informed decision when I pick a state to move to.......

[dijkstra]

Originally Posted by mollybygolly

From what I've read, the "wheel tax" is every year added on to the price of your tags, so around $70-$75 total per year.
Sales tax on vehicles appears to be the same as the state sales tax rate.
Unless I am missing something?
Not arguing, just curious!
I want to make an informed decision when I pick a state to move to.......

I was confused on which tax the "wheel tax" is in Tennessee. You are right it is just a flat fee of around $36 per car per year. Where Tennessee gets you and what I meant to refer to is the sales tax you pay when buying or bringing a vehicle into Tennessee. Their sales tax is 7% on vehicles plus local taxes ranging from around 1.5% to 2.75%. So you can be required to pay up to about 9.75% tax in one lump sum. In Alabama the state sales tax is only 2% and local taxes are anywhere from 0.5% to around 1.5% or so. So Tennessee gets you up front in one big lump sum when you buy the car or bring it into the state whereas you pay a smaller sales tax in Alabama and they hit you in smaller amounts when you renew your tag. Eventually your car will depreciate out if you keep it long enough and eventually your tag will only be $25 to $40 each year in Alabama.

So basically, in time they get you either way. If I had a choice of which I would prefer it would be Alabama's way because having to pay over 9% sales tax in one whack when you purchase a car is just ridiculous to me.

I find it a little odd that you would base a decision on where to move on what a car tag costs. That seems like a frivolous thing to be very concerned about.

[brianjb]

At least we don't have to get an inspection.

In Missouri, we had to get it inspected...and:

-proof of insurance (pretty common)
-show proof of inspection (if they fail you, you have to fix it. I failed one time because my wipers were due to be replaced. those mechanics sometimes use the inspections as a way of generating sales)
-pay property tax (go to court house and pay tax on value of car. like you would for a home)
-finally after doing all of that you get to pay the registration fee

[mollybygolly]

I do so appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.
I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I would be basing my decision entirely on the cost of vehicle tags. That would indeed be both odd and frivolous
Just trying to cover all the bases and plan accordingly.
Choosing the right state to retire in and (hopefully) spend the rest of my life, is a big deal to me.
I'm merely gathering information and processing it at this point.
Thanks again. You've (all) been most helpful.

[brianjb]

Originally Posted by mollybygolly

I do so appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.
I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I would be basing my decision entirely on the cost of vehicle tags. That would indeed be both odd and frivolous

I have to say that this made laugh.

I agree it would be odd to base where you live on things like this. I have never lived in TN, so I can't give you any insight.

Alabama has it's share of financial problems.

Your an adult, and you know that taxes are a necessary way of life. They are used to fix things and provide services, etc. If you were that concerned you would have sold your car a long time ago, and just lived in an apartment close to shopping. Then you could just take your bicycle or walk where you needed to go. That would save the gas, upkeep, taxes, etc. You could probably save yourself $6,000 per year that way; but let's not get crazy...lol

[LCTMadison]

Every year about this time I am reminded why I haven't gone out and bought a new car...

I pay $500 for a 2006 Expedition and a 2005 BMW. I feel robbed.

[Kel_in_PA]

We paid about $400 for two cars when we moved here in January. Is the tax collected every year?

We lived in Virginia for many years. We paid personal property tax on our cars every year and it was crazy. With 2 new cars we easily paid over $2000/year. The tax was collected by the county. VA is phasing out the tax, but they increased property taxes, so it comes out even.

We just moved here from Pennsylvania and the taxes there are incredible. In addition to federal income tax, they collect state, county and locality income taxes. This is on top of county and local property taxes, AND a local school tax. I then paid a yearly fee of $150 to the city of Pittsburgh for the privilege of working in the city as a non-resident.

I complained about the car tax when I registered the cars in February, but compared to other states the taxes here are not bad. And if you want to see what bad roads look like, take a drive in PA in late April/early may after a bad winter. I can't tell you how may tires we bought in the 3 1/2 years we lived there.

[brianjb]

Originally Posted by Kel_in_PA

We paid about $400 for two cars when we moved here in January. Is the tax collected every year?

We lived in Virginia for many years. We paid personal property tax on our cars every year and it was crazy. With 2 new cars we easily paid over $2000/year. The tax was collected by the county. VA is phasing out the tax, but they increased property taxes, so it comes out even.

We just moved here from Pennsylvania and the taxes there are incredible. In addition to federal income tax, they collect state, county and locality income taxes. This is on top of county and local property taxes, AND a local school tax. I then paid a yearly fee of $150 to the city of Pittsburgh for the privilege of working in the city as a non-resident.

I complained about the car tax when I registered the cars in February, but compared to other states the taxes here are not bad. And if you want to see what bad roads look like, take a drive in PA in late April/early may after a bad winter. I can't tell you how may tires we bought in the 3 1/2 years we lived there.

Yes you pay car tax every year when you get your registration renewed.

[FAL50]

Sorry if I'm gonna offend someone here, but it's always funny to read the complaints when it comes to taxes in AL and the US in general.

You guys really don't know and/or appreciate how cheap it is on taxes in the US.

In 1990 I moved from Belgium to this area, Madison County.
Our first house was a nice big property on the outside of Ardmore, close to the MXR school.

I bought a new Mercedes 300CE for my wife and a new Mercedes 560SEL for me, at an MB dealer in Atlanta GA.
Going to the tax office at that time in the old Bruno's building on the corner of N Parkway and Oakwood Av, the lady prepares my documents and looks at me and apologizes for the big amount I will have to pay on sales tax (cars bought in an other state) and registration fees and yearly tax. This because according to her the taxes are so high in Alabama.
At that time there was still the additional 10% luxury tax to pay on both cars because of the new value more as $30,000 , this luxury tax on top of the regular sales tax. And since living outside the city limits the sales tax was only 2.75%.
I started laughing when she told me that and she could not understand why I did that.
So I explained that I just moved from Belgium, Europe, where the taxes are really high. That's why Belgium is better known as tax hell.
At that time, sales tax on anything, even a loaf of bread or a crayon, was 25%.
For cars above a specific engine size, and both my MBs were, was an additional luxury tax of 8%, making the total sales tax 33%.
The registration fee on each car was 10% of the invoice value, and the yearly road tax on the 300CE was about $2,200 and on the 560SEL about $5,700.

Today, 22 years later, I'm still laughing each year when I have to pay my tag fees or the sales tax on a new car, because I still compare how much more it would cost me in Belgium versus what it cost here.
And let's not forget the $9+ per gallon for fuel in Belgium, and the very high income taxes and property taxes.

I still say it's very cheap to live here in Madison County.

[brianjb]

Originally Posted by FAL50

Sorry if I'm gonna offend someone here, but it's always funny to read the complaints when it comes to taxes in AL and the US in general.

You guys really don't know and/or appreciate how cheap it is on taxes in the US.

In 1990 I moved from Belgium to this area, Madison County.
Our first house was a nice big property on the outside of Ardmore, close to the MXR school.

I bought a new Mercedes 300CE for my wife and a new Mercedes 560SEL for me, at an MB dealer in Atlanta GA.
Going to the tax office at that time in the old Bruno's building on the corner of N Parkway and Oakwood Av, the lady prepares my documents and looks at me and apologizes for the big amount I will have to pay on sales tax (cars bought in an other state) and registration fees and yearly tax. This because according to her the taxes are so high in Alabama.
At that time there was still the additional 10% luxury tax to pay on both cars because of the new value more as $30,000 , this luxury tax on top of the regular sales tax. And since living outside the city limits the sales tax was only 2.75%.
I started laughing when she told me that and she could not understand why I did that.
So I explained that I just moved from Belgium, Europe, where the taxes are really high. That's why Belgium is better known as tax hell.
At that time, sales tax on anything, even a loaf of bread or a crayon, was 25%.
For cars above a specific engine size, and both my MBs were, was an additional luxury tax of 8%, making the total sales tax 33%.
The registration fee on each car was 10% of the invoice value, and the yearly road tax on the 300CE was about $2,200 and on the 560SEL about $5,700.

Today, 22 years later, I'm still laughing each year when I have to pay my tag fees or the sales tax on a new car, because I still compare how much more it would cost me in Belgium versus what it cost here.
And let's not forget the $9+ per gallon for fuel in Belgium, and the very high income taxes and property taxes.

I still say it's very cheap to live here in Madison County.

It is definitely a lot cheaper to live here than other countries. Even our highest taxed cities in the US is lower than most of Europe.

THis can turn into a political discussion real quick so I won't dwell on what you said. But let's take a quick look....in Europe a lot of things are provided to the citizens (education, sometimes college, retirement, etc); and they have high taxes. So nothing is free. A friend of mine went to Switzerland, and there was a tour and the tour guide was bragging about how they all get to go to the university for a "free" education. When my friend asked what the tax rate was, the conversation shifted. The point is, if you pay close to 50% of your income in taxes; then you aren't really getting free stuff.