Taxing Nothingness

So I registered my new car yesterday. Off to town hall I went, to pay the annual excise tax. That's separate, by the way, from the five percent sales tax I subsequently paid at the DMV. The sales tax goes to the state of Maine; the excise tax of a little over two percent goes to the town.

The idea of paying a yearly excise tax on our two cars is still a bit baffling to me. I don't recall paying it in any other towns or states where I've lived, but of course my experience in that regard is limited.

Anyway, I walk into our town hall, I'm greeted as pleasantly as ever and offered a chair, and I pull out my papers. One of the things I assume I need to show the clerk is the bill of sale for the car, so that she can see what I paid and then multiply that by 2.1 percent or whatever the rate is. Instead, she begins consulting a little paperback with car prices.

The conversation goes something like this:

Me: "Oh, if you want to know what the purchase price was, I have that right here."
She: "No, that's all right. They don't do it by purchase price."

By 'they,' she means the legislature. She's wise to put a little distance between herself and the tax-happy lawmakers.

Me: "They don't d— How do you mean?"
She: "You have to pay tax on the manufacturer's official price."
Me: "But I didn't pay MSRP. Nobody does when they buy a new car, do they? I paid $2,500 under sticker."
She: "Suck it."

Actually, she doesn't say that. For all I know, she is sympathetic to my implied protest. She might very well be fed up herself, like so many locals, of living in the state that has now had the highest tax burden in the country for ten years running [link goes to pdf file].

But it is out of her hands. I know that. She's just doing her job, and she wants me to pay up, and I don't want to give her a hard time. I write the check and sign a couple of forms and I'm done, and so we bid our perfectly courteous adieus.

It's nothing, really: I got taken for $2,500 x 2-plus percent. That's a little over fifty bucks. A trifle. (As opposed to my town, the Maine DMV charges sales tax on actual purchase price instead of MSRP.)

And so I put the whole thing out of my mind, but only after musing ever so briefly on the wonders of the Harry Houdini school of lawmaking; that is, on the magnificently creative minds of legislators who have succeeded in taxing something that never was, money that never changed hands, a perfect chimera.

Comments

[David]

It could be worse. I've actually had the assessed value on my car go up between years and the people in my tax office are more outwardly rude.

[Kevin]

Of course, you chose to live in the state with the highest tax burden in the country. If you don't like it you're free to move, or to petition your legislator, or even to run for the legislature yourself. Choices have consequences.

[Douglas]

...or vote from the rooftop. Your call, mate.

[Miggs]

"Of course, you chose to live in the state with the highest tax burden in the country."

And what exactly does that have to do with him commenting about the state using an irrelevant standard for determining excise tax? Nice strawman.

[Jeff the Poustman]

The Boston Tea Party was about 'no taxation without representation', if I recall. What about another one, 'no taxation without justification' or something catchier?

[The Wine Commonsewer]

"If you don't like it you're free to move, or to petition your legislator, or even to run for the legislature yourself. Choices have consequences."

Of course that's true and I am always mystified that so many people immediately want to point that out when someone else complains about smog, taxes, idiocy, racism, or (insert your pet peeve here). Most, if not all, of us know about this bit of wisdom.

Sure Maine has high taxes. What state doesn't? And you can run from the federal tax, but you'll die tired, because it's everywhere.

Like incest, I suppose that everything is relative, but I don't see no Nirvana, Free State Project notwithstanding.

[Evan!]

Yes, yes, in VA, I pay a "personal property tax". This is the penalty that I incur for the dastardly deed of, um, owning a car. Of course, I also pay sales tax at time of purchase, as well as state and federal taxes every time I put fuel into it. All for the

The only good news in all this is that 2 governors ago, Jim Gilmore instituted tax breaks on the so-called "car tax". He ran under that platform and won...and it's the only good thing he ever did. Interestingly enough, though, in on personal property tax bill, they still list the price I would be paying if it weren't for that break, then they list the amount I will pay. Just so I know that it could be worse. Assholes.

[Mikentity]

Another tax on nothingness: Rebates

When you buy something with a rebate, you pay sales tax on the unrebated amount. The true purchase price is upfront cash - rebate.

I can't help wonder what sort of back room deals led to all this rebating.