Governor keeps his promise: Tripling of car tax repealed

San Jose Mercury ^ | 11/17/2003 | Barry Witt

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Governor keeps his promise: Tripling of car tax repealed By Barry Witt Mercury News

With the stroke of a pen Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger rescinded last summer's tripling of car taxes by decreeing that his predecessor simply got it wrong when he said California could no longer afford to forgo the nearly $4 billion a year the tax raised.

It was Schwarzenegger's first official act as governor, fulfilling a campaign promise to repeal the reviled tax, the proceeds of which are distributed to city and county governments.

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DMV spokesman Bill Branch said Monday the department hadn't been formally notified of Schwarzenegger's action and did not know how long it would take to revise vehicle registration forms to reflect the lower tax rate. He also advised drivers who face immediate deadlines for registering their cars to pay the fee stated on the bill in order to avoid possibly having to pay expensive late charges.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

Yayyyyyyyyyy!

[I_Love_My_Husband]

ping!

[goldstategop]

There's a PDF file I hope someone will post later today. It can be downloaded here from Dain Weintraub's Insider Blog. The PDF contains the text of the executive order repealing the car tax increase and the proclamations convening the State Legislature into special session today.

http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/insider/archives/11-17%20proclimations%20and%20EOs.pdf

[ClintonBeGone]

California voters already getting a return on their investment.

[CIB-173RDABN]

DMV spokesman Bill Branch said Monday the department hadn't been formally notified of Schwarzenegger's action and did not know how long it would take to revise vehicle registration forms to reflect the lower tax rate. He also advised drivers who face immediate deadlines for registering their cars to pay the fee stated on the bill in order to avoid possibly having to pay expensive late charges.

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If the governor promised that his first action would be to raise the DMV fees, why do I have the thought that the DMV would have everything in place ready to go on the governor's first day in office.

What is the matter, you just put the new fees in place a month ago, you can not reprogram your computers to put them back the way they were?

[goldstategop]

The Democrats in the Legislature won't be THAT cooperative.

[goldstategop]

I don't think the DMV bureaucrats have gotten the message. Its time to crack the whip.

[aShepard]

????Not being a Californian, is there a property tax on autos, on top of this "registration tax"????

[goldstategop]

Its called the Motor Vehicle License Fee. Its assessed at 2% of a car's market value and depreciates each year the car's value decreases. Its relatively expensive with a new vehicle but a piffle if the car owned is several years old. Yes, its a property tax on cars and it doesn't go as people think, to the state highway fund. Instead, its sent to county and local governments who depend on it for a major source of their revenue.

[ClintonBeGone]

The Democrats in the Legislature won't be THAT cooperative.

True. At least at first. If anyone can bypass them and go to the people like Reagan did, it's Arnold. Should be an interesting show, eh?

[grobdriver]

He (The DMV Weenie) also advised drivers who face immediate deadlines for registering their cars to pay the fee stated on the bill in order to avoid possibly having to pay expensive late charges.

Of course.
And then they can try and get the difference back from the state government...
BWAHAHAhahahahaha!!!!!! *snort*....*giggle*

[I_Love_My_Husband]

This is so exciting! We're about to buy a car (our first ever, most likely a pre-owned Audi)!!!!!!

[goldstategop]

Congrats. If you pay cash, I suspect the dealer will be more than happy to pay the tax at the current rate for you. You can claim a rebate later.

[aShepard]

Thanks.

Only 2%, and now down to .6%? What a great deal.

Here in Rhode Island, plates cost $60.00, but the property tax for a 2002 Honda, and a '96 Honda comes to an extra $1,500 each year. That's on top of my Real estate taxes, which on a house assessed at $367,000 comes to $9,500, sales tax at 7%, and heavy income tax.

But somebody's gotta pay for the politicians skim off the top!

[Chewbacca]

I paid $23.50 to register my 1980 truck this year.
Its almost a classic.

[Alberta's Child]

There's another story behind all of this, and it's starting to come up in the state of New Jersey as the legislature is now considering an increase in the gas tax.

A car tax or gasoline tax is actually a conservative's dream -- a source of revenue that is almost a perfect "user fee" of sorts, and therefore affects anyone who drives a car regardless of their socio-economic status. In liberal parlance, it is among the most "regressive" sources of revenue a state government can possibly have.

Of course, in a place like California there is always a strong possibility that a substantial number of people will refuse to pay any car tax and will drive unregistered vehicles anyway, in which case the whole purpose of the car tax is defeated.

[giotto]

You pay sales tax when you buy the car--usually about 8.25%. The license tag must be updated every year, which last year cost us about $325 for our two fairly new cars, but which this year would cost us almost $900 for the two. I've already paid one of the fees, but the other one is not due until December, so I'm hoping to pay the reduced fee by then. Also hope to get a partial refund of the one I already paid.

[JoeFromCA]

The 2% tax part of the fee remains quite high for a long time. The plates for my 20+ year old Honda are $64/year, under the tripling rules. Plates for my three-year old car are $583 under the tripling rules, and $219 under the new rule. Hardly a trifling sum.

More expensive than most other states, I'd venture to say, except other states run by democrats, like New York and Massachusetts.

[jpl]

Wow, he's already made good on one of his pledges, which after one day puts him ahead of about 80% of modern politicians. All he has to do now is rescind the licenses for illegals, and he's done just about everything he promised he would do.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

He said he's going to do that, I think it's a done deal and that he did it already.