Re: Lic. Plate

[Eliot Lim <eliot@u.washington.edu>]

On Thu, 7 Dec 1995, Steve Powers wrote:

> what if you 'sold' your car for a $1 to a _very_ good friend and then
> bought it back for $2?
> 
> your friend would pay $.08 in sales tax and about $15 in title xfer
> fees. you would pay $.16 in sales tax and another $15 in title xfer.
> 
> What could the state say about market value? After all, it's now been
> sold twice at a reduced price...

no, you missed the point.  the excise tax is NOT based on the *true*
market value of the car, which is why my v8 tabs are twice as much as
what they should be.  the excise tax is based on WHAT THE STATE SAYS
YOUR CAR IS WORTH, which is something like 70% of its new price 5
years down the road.  yeah, right. daylight robbery.

the other thing you may not have noticed... you did not pay 8.2%
sales tax *and* 5% (or whatever) luxury tax.  you first add the
5% luxury tax onto the (negotiated or MSRP?) price of the car.
then this value is the number that the 8.2% sales tax is added
onto.  paying taxes on taxes.  ain't that groovy?  :) :)

eliot