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Exotic Cars and Montana Plates
The Truth About Cars ^ | 2/22/2013 | Doug DeMuro

Posted on 02/23/2013 9:48:59 AM PST by nascarnation

In its simplest form, an exotic car with a Montana plates is an immense tax dodge. Being the Wild West, you see, Montana levies no sales tax. Instead, its government chooses to operate under the unique “we don’t need no stinkin’ money” principle, which possibly explains why they went without speed limits for several years: they couldn’t afford the signs.

In my home state of Georgia, the Veyron’s $1.7 million MSRP would be taxed at seven percent, which comes out to $119,000. For a license plate.

Anyway, if you lived in Montana, the same Veyron would cost virtually nothing to register. Yes, maybe $200 for some fee or other, and of course the requisite $30 for the special plate that no one notices. But aside from that, nothing. You’ve just saved $118,770.

(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutcars.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: automobile; license; taxes
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A tutorial on why so many exotic autos have Montana license plates. Apparently so widespread that California has set up an internet based system for its citizens to report suspected cheaters.

http://www.chp.ca.gov/prog/cheaters.cgi

1 posted on 02/23/2013 9:49:04 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: nascarnation

A Nevada resident can buy a car in sales-tax-free Oregon, and then register it in state, without paying any sales tax.


2 posted on 02/23/2013 9:56:53 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Universal Background Check -> Registration -> Confiscation -> Oppression -> Extermination)
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To: nascarnation

The annual registration fee in California on the new Bugatti is over $400K per year.


3 posted on 02/23/2013 10:00:51 AM PST by mnehring
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To: nascarnation
In my home state of Georgia, the Veyron’s $1.7 million MSRP would be taxed at seven percent, which comes out to $119,000. For a license plate.

I imagine that one could buy a small summer cottage in Montana for less than $119K and have the car be completely legal.

4 posted on 02/23/2013 10:01:16 AM PST by RightOnTheBorder
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To: mnehring

Just curious, how much for a 15 yr old beater?


5 posted on 02/23/2013 10:03:03 AM PST by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: nascarnation
"its government chooses to operate under the unique “we don’t need no stinkin’ money” principle"

Montana has a relatively high Income Tax rate starting at a low income level.

6 posted on 02/23/2013 10:04:07 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Stunningly high by my reckoning: 6.9% on income > 15 grand


7 posted on 02/23/2013 10:06:14 AM PST by nascarnation (Baraq's economic policy: trickle up poverty)
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To: nascarnation

they pay you.love them beaters,got one


8 posted on 02/23/2013 10:19:38 AM PST by CGASMIA68
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To: nascarnation
"Montana's 2010 state-level individual income tax collections were $724 per person, which ranked 27th highest nationally. "

There's also an implicit "Mountain Tax" that keeps wages and salaries low.

9 posted on 02/23/2013 10:27:21 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2
Montana has a relatively high Income Tax rate starting at a low income level.

Yes and relatively high property taxes and other "user" fees to compensate for the lack of sales tax.

Montana's screwy taxes on "custom" automobiles and "classic" automobiles are beyond my pay grade. There may be some kind of dodge there.

But I do know that I just wrote a check for $400 to renew the tags on my four-year-old pickup. When it was brand-new the fee was well over $500.

A relative of mine in Idaho, by comparison, just registered his brand-new AWD Fusion for $56. Of course he had to pay Idaho's six-plus-percent sales tax...then again, he only has to pay the sales tax once.

Still and all the absence of a sales tax, regressive though it is, seems preferable to me. When you pay (non-withholding) taxes in Montana you have to write out a check: it keeps the tax-grab right in front of you.

10 posted on 02/23/2013 10:41:33 AM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: nascarnation
Lots and lots of cars with New Hampshire plates down here in the Gay State.Particularly more expensive ones.My Dad had a place up there but actually lived down here and paid no sales tax on several cars.He felt absolutely no shame because of the obscene sums of $$$ he paid to this People's Republic over his lifetime while asking absolutely nothing in return.If it wasn't for the fact that NH is on the verge of going Communist and,thus,will surely enact a sales tax *and* an income tax soon (they have neither at the moment) I'd be packing the moving van now.

We,too,have a hotline here that one can use to report "tax cheats" but I'd wager that few people use it.

11 posted on 02/23/2013 10:46:37 AM PST by Gay State Conservative ("Progressives" toss the word "racist" around like chimps toss their feces)
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To: nascarnation

I bet John Kerry is kicking himself that he didn’t figure out how to buy and dock his yacht in Montana.
http://yachtpals.com/kerry-yacht-9119


12 posted on 02/23/2013 10:48:54 AM PST by libertarian27 (FreeRepublic Cookbooks 2011 & 2012 - Click Profile)
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To: RightOnTheBorder

Some enterprising Montanan should buy an acre of Montana land, break it up into postage sized parcels, then sell one of the postage sized parcels for a nominal amount; plus obtain a Montana post office box. The purchaser of such a parcel and box by visiting the parcel from time to time and picking up his junk mail could then claim Montana citizenship and register his car. Anything to deny the blood suckers their precious dollars with which to buy votes.


13 posted on 02/23/2013 10:55:57 AM PST by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: Gay State Conservative
I have a question about residency.

Most states seem to have a 6 month rule to determine which of two states got the residency, but what if one has property and lives in three states?

What about folks who live overseas? What state should they pay income taxes to? What about US citizens who live in one of the territories?

14 posted on 02/23/2013 10:56:43 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: libertarian27

And Montana has some pretty cool plates, I bet they have more variations and specialized plates than anywhere. It seems I almost never see two Montana plates that are alike.


15 posted on 02/23/2013 10:58:10 AM PST by PrivateIdaho ( "Courage is being scared to death... but saddling up anyway." (John Wayne))
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To: Paladin2
Montana without a sales tax is in the bottom half of individual income tax collections not bad. If you are over 62 you get a thousand buck rebate on your property taxes.

I'm just pointing this out...would not want to give anyone a reason to move here..its to cold, no jobs, and packed to the gills with out of staters.

16 posted on 02/23/2013 11:04:28 AM PST by montanajoe
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To: nascarnation

A friend of mine bought a place in Oregon and moved up there. He came back to California to work on his house to fix it up for sale. He got stopped and ended up having to reregister in California. This was back in the eighties.


17 posted on 02/23/2013 11:08:31 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Superciliousness is the essence of Obama)
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To: montanajoe

You are so right.

A hateful place to live!

(I do gotta admit Max & Tester are a pair to draw to though...sheesh)


18 posted on 02/23/2013 11:09:47 AM PST by Fightin Whitey
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To: Paladin2
Most states seem to have a 6 month rule to determine which of two states got the residency, but what if one has property and lives in three states?

States argue about that very issue all the time.They argue with other states as well as with individual taxpayers.If you listen to Rush regularly you'll recall that he mentions from time to time that he gets audited by the State of New York every year and that that audit is very complicated and intense.This is despite the fact that he hasn't lived *or* worked in the state for years.I'm sure that their backup plan was to put a lien on his Manhattan apartment which,IIRC,he only sold a year or two ago.When you have nothing that a state can seize (a business or a residence) I don't see how they can enforce a tax decision...although I could be wrong.

19 posted on 02/23/2013 11:10:50 AM PST by Gay State Conservative ("Progressives" toss the word "racist" around like chimps toss their feces)
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To: montanajoe
I haven't yet figured a cheap way to finesse the County license plate office to register a vehicle I bought in MT 3 years ago that has never left the state since.

Most states want to see their state's plate on a vehicle that runs around town for more than a few weeks with the owner hanging out there for months at a time.

20 posted on 02/23/2013 11:25:01 AM PST by Paladin2
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