So someone buying a car cheap because it needs work is going to get taxed as if it's in good working order. Nice.
A little something to help the new and used car dealers associations (one of the biggest guilds contributing to state and local government).
I was given a 1954 Ford Pickup by my uncle a few decades ago. I had to pay tax based on "what it was worth" but they didn't call it a "sales tax". I was steaming mad until they told me that, at which point I shut up.
Being a black and white thinker, I believed that if they called it a sales tax they could only tax the amount of money that changed hands, but if they called it anything else, they could pretty much charge what they wanted. They based it on a $500 value - and I quietly paid it.
Yeah. Another government rip-off. Buy a car that needs some work, pay a low price for it, and get to pay tax on a book price that most dealers don't even charge.
Crooked a$$holes. I'd like to see 'em all take a hike.