Vehicle Registration Costs and Fees

Mach1E

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I expect Florida will try to implement an EV registration surcharge. But I already pay state taxes on my consumption of electricity, so such a tax would be double taxation and unfair. More fair would be to have the state calculate what portion of the total tax on electricity is attributable to EVs, and send that money to the same highway fund receives the state gasoline tax.
Unfortunately the government deemed double taxation “fair” a very long time ago.

Sales tax
Taxes on social security wages
Registration fees
Property taxes
Estate taxes
Gift taxes
Corporate double taxation (corporate tax then again taxed as capital gains or dividend distributions)

The list goes on. But “fair” hasn’t existed in our tax code since our great grandparents were around.
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Degrix

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In Colorado, just registered my 2021 GT. Cost me $1,490 !!! That includes an additional $50 'fee' for EVs. The claim is that EVs do not generate enough tax dollars since they don't need gasoline.
This happened to me last month when I registered my GT - pretty much the same amount. Colorado first year registration is a PITA!
 

ARK

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Unfortunately the government deemed double taxation “fair” a very long time ago.

Sales tax
Taxes on social security wages
Registration fees
Property taxes
Estate taxes
Gift taxes
Corporate double taxation (corporate tax then again taxed as capital gains or dividend distributions)

The list goes on. But “fair” hasn’t existed in our tax code since our great grandparents were around.
Income tax rates in the USA were much, much, much higher in the past. Top earners in recent years are also way better off compared to everyone else in recent years than say 30 years ago.
 

Mach1E

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Income tax rates in the USA were much, much, much higher in the past. Top earners in recent years are also way better off compared to everyone else in recent years than say 30 years ago.
They were much much lower, then much much higher, now medium.

But that has literally nothing to do with the concept of “double taxation,” that was suggested.

Fun fact- in 1935 the 79% top tax bracket only had 1 person in it: Rockefeller.
 

ARK

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They were much much lower, then much much higher, now medium.

But that has literally nothing to do with the concept of “double taxation,” that was suggested.
True, I guess I was more responding to the last sentence about the tax code being "fair".
 


Mach1E

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True, I guess I was more responding to the last sentence about the tax code being "fair".
Ah. Yeah, it’s a very loaded word. And it’s thrown around casually all the time because “fair” is defined by whoever says the word.

You could define fair in many ways for income tax:
Flat $ amount (everyone pays $10k)
Flat % (everyone pays 10%)
Progressive $ amount (more $ for more income)
Progressive % (current system, higher percent in tiers of income)
Flat percent based on use (sales tax)
Progressive % based on use
Progressive $ based on use (fuel, tobacco, toll roads)

I would say the only “fair” thing is we all have the same rules applied to us. But in reality the tax code is a giant contradictory hot mess. And in relation to double taxation? It’s definitely on purpose.
 

RickMachE

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For those whining about vehicle taxation ;), move to South Carolina (which we are considering). Every year they hit your cars, boats, RVs, boat motors, etc. with a property tax that's very noticeable could be over $1,000 a year for a car or boat. 2 cars over $50,00, 2 boats, you're paying $3,000 or more a year. Of course property tax for a resident is very low, and makes up for the vehicle taxes.

In Michigan, we bought the Mach-E in July and transferred the plate from our Fusion Energi PHEV. Have to pay a $100 electric fee and $35 gas tax fee EV fee on top of title, transfer of plate, etc, even though we paid a $30 hybrid fee and a $17 gas fee on the PHEV. Then, mere months later when the registration expired, I had to pay $395 to renew which included another $135 with no proration. That's on top of 6% sales tax when we bought it.

I read that South Carolina now charges an infrastructure fee of max $500 instead of sales tax, then you pay the annual property tax.

Of course that's small compared to what some others have to pay.
 
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Maquis

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For those whining about vehicle taxation ;), move to South Carolina (which we are considering). Every year they hit your cars, boats, RVs, boat motors, etc. with a property tax that's very noticeable could be over $1,000 a year for a car or boat. 2 cars over $50,00, 2 boats, you're paying $3,000 or more a year. Of course property tax for a resident is very low, and makes up for the vehicle taxes.
Missouri is the same. They call it "Personal property tax".
 

v8318cid

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South Carolina is supposed to charge $60 for hybrids, and $120 for BEVs annually on top of the $200 infrastructure fee and $300 sales tax (capped, and only upon initial purchase), but I have not seen the EV charge appear on my registration notices yet. Granted, I get nailed with property taxes. Over a given year I typically pay around $6k just in vehicle taxes, $1400 of which is for the Mach-e (thank you local county assessor who just loves to manipulate both millage and value to boost revenues, just because they can). For reference, my house tax doesn't even break $1k. For those who may question it, yes, most of that could be avoided if I didn't own so many vehicles. I don't have a life, and I cannot have multiple wives, so I have multiple cars instead. (different uses entirely, so don't go off the rails too far with that one! =) )
Thankfully the local electric coop hasn't pushed for changes in the net metering policy (yet...). In that regard I'm still getting basically 1-for-1, which for a relatively small solar system, I am basically getting my Mach-e and Leaf charged for free.
 

pottslaw

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BEVs aren't exempted from annual property tax in Arizona... But there is a deep discount compared to taxes levied on other vehicles.

This is changing soon, though. For vehicle registrations starting on 1/1/2022, the discount is dramatically reduced. Starting 1/1/2023, no more VLT discount for new BEV registrations.
I assume that applies to renewals as well as new registrations? That sounds like a good reason for me to renew my February 2022 tags before the end of the year. I can renew my tags through February 2027 for $68.90, an average cost of $13.78 per year.
 

Maquis

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I assume that applies to renewals as well as new registrations? That sounds like a good reason for me to renew my February 2022 tags before the end of the year. I can renew my tags through February 2027 for $68.90, an average cost of $13.78 per year.
If AZ does it like they do here, the price is based on the date the tags renew, not the date you carry out the transaction.
 

RickMachE

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South Carolina is supposed to charge $60 for hybrids, and $120 for BEVs annually on top of the $200 infrastructure fee and $300 sales tax (capped, and only upon initial purchase), but I have not seen the EV charge appear on my registration notices yet. Granted, I get nailed with property taxes. Over a given year I typically pay around $6k just in vehicle taxes, $1400 of which is for the Mach-e (thank you local county assessor who just loves to manipulate both millage and value to boost revenues, just because they can). For reference, my house tax doesn't even break $1k. For those who may question it, yes, most of that could be avoided if I didn't own so many vehicles. I don't have a life, and I cannot have multiple wives, so I have multiple cars instead. (different uses entirely, so don't go off the rails too far with that one! =) )
Thankfully the local electric coop hasn't pushed for changes in the net metering policy (yet...). In that regard I'm still getting basically 1-for-1, which for a relatively small solar system, I am basically getting my Mach-e and Leaf charged for free.
For comparable value properties (actually SC would be higher value), we're looking at paying roughly 1/3 the property tax in SC as in Michigan. Here we're paying for a top school district, as well as $600 a year for our public library, and almost $1,100 for the Community College (I think we're the highest taxpayer subsidized community college in the state).

That's why when you're considering living somewhere, any one tax/fee doesn't matter, what matters is what you're paying in total tax - income tax, property tax, personal property tax, vehicle fees, etc.

We moved years ago from Massachusetts, which at the time had a 6% tax on income and a 12% tax on interest, dividends and capital gains not earned in the state (i.e. mutual funds). When the realtor in Pennsylvania started talking about property taxes, I laughed, because PA's income tax was like 3 or 4%.
 

TheCats

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That's for sure. They'll soon be adding an $8 fee per month for each KW capacity for solar panels. So, I have a 7KW solar system and it will cost me $56 per month because I generate solar power. So much for zero electricity costs.
That is $8/month for each kW of *authorized interconnect power*.

The authorized amount is higher than the inverter nameplate rating, often significantly higher to make the applications for interconnection consistent. The inverter nameplate rating, in turn, is usually significantly more than the maximum output of the panels as-installed. Both were the appropriate engineering decisions at the time.

If this rule is approved, the fee will be $480 annually for a typical system, or about $0.10 per kWh generated (including power used immediately at the residence).
 

pottslaw

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If AZ does it like they do here, the price is based on the date the tags renew, not the date you carry out the transaction.
Update: I got lucky a few minutes ago and got the "2021" rate of less than $14 per year for five years for our Arizona registration.

Arizona's personal property tax is collected through a Vehicle Lieu Tax (VLT) based upon the value of the vehicle at the time of the renewal. For example, our 2018 Ford Edge will renew in February 2022 for an annual fee (including VLT) of $358. If Arizona reinstates the VLT for $50K + BEV's like the Mach E, the registration fees are going to increase significantly.
 

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Update: I got lucky a few minutes ago and got the "2021" rate of less than $14 per year for five years for our Arizona registration.

Arizona's personal property tax is collected through a Vehicle Lieu Tax (VLT) based upon the value of the vehicle at the time of the renewal. For example, our 2018 Ford Edge will renew in February 2022 for an annual fee (including VLT) of $358. If Arizona reinstates the VLT for $50K + BEV's like the Mach E, the registration fees are going to increase significantly.
As long as we don't re-register the vehicles into a different owner name (e.g. transfer to a family member, or sell to 3rd party), then the rate calculation doesn't change.

The only benefit to registering for more than one year ahead is the postage/handling portion of registration, something like $7 or $8 per year, iirc.
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