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Montana plates started showing up in GA before covid, tons of exotics would have them at car shows here. If you are unaware it’s a grey area of legal/illegal tax avoidance as Montana used to make it relatively simple to have a LLC there and title your car for close to nothing. This is compared to paying tens of thousands of dollars in tax for purchasing your car in your bime
stete.
Montana closed the loophole a bit and now states are going after people who do it. The Youtuber Whistling Diesel is the biggest known example.
TL/DR- States should lower tax burdens for vehicle purchases so people don’t try to find ways to avoid paying high taxes.
this is one of those things where there's such a relatively small volume of 'offenders' it seems like more money would be spent 'fixing' it than the taxes themselves would ever bring in
I was at a Concours event this weekend and every car was registered in Montana.
Most companies are incorporated in Delaware, South Dakota etc for various reasons like tax savings, legal protection etc.
Sales tax on cars should be abolished especially when the average car is now $50k!
People already paid income tax on their hard earned money plus whatever the registration fees are etc.
Since you two are CL leaders, Is it OK now to discuss subjects like this on CL? Seems quite political to me....deals with state taxation policies.
I would hope everyone on all sides of the spectrum wants lower unnecessary taxes which is the jest of the article. Note the states not happy are blue and red ones.
We will push the political boundaries here without overstepping into the negative realm of rules lol.
I was at a Concours event this weekend and every car was registered in Montana.
Most companies are incorporated in Delaware, South Dakota etc for various reasons like tax savings, legal protection etc.
Sales tax on cars should be abolished especially when the average car is now $50k!
People already paid income tax on their hard earned money plus whatever the registration fees are etc.
I think all income tax should go away and everything be set to flat 30% excise tax. It will be far more fair that way and no one can dodge any taxes
Why do we use the term loophole when nothing being done is illegal. That's the entire point of hiring an accountant to do your taxes exploit the rules to maximum financial benefit.
Originally Posted by Striker223
I think all income tax should go away and everything be set to flat 30% excise tax. It will be far more fair that way and no one can dodge any taxes
Yes, but a flat tax would remove a giant arm of bureaucracy if we've learned anything it's once you create government jobs it's nearly impossible to get rid of them.
this is one of those things where there's such a relatively small volume of 'offenders' it seems like more money would be spent 'fixing' it than the taxes themselves would ever bring in
depends on how you look at it. yes, this loophole is/was exploit by small amount of people, however, the value of cars they possess is huge resulting in huge amount of tax "loss" to individual states.
i think paying tax on car purchase is ok. just because cars are expensive doesn't mean they should be tax free. everyone pays tax on things they buy, doesn't matter if it's a cheap ruler or a 30k rolex.
my issue is paying sales tax on used car purchases. to me that's double taxing. purchasing a used car from dealerships, fine, i can see it as an argument because it's a business. however, paying tax on private sales as well? ouch... not to mention in states like CA, trading in an used car for a new one at dealership, you don't get any tax credit. that hurts a lot!
Why do we use the term loophole when nothing being done is illegal. That's the entire point of hiring an accountant to do your taxes exploit the rules to maximum financial benefit.
Yes, but a flat tax would remove a giant arm of bureaucracy if we've learned anything it's once you create government jobs it's nearly impossible to get rid of them.
True, that's one of the exact reasons I want a true flat tax.
Heck it actually gives me a relative disadvantage vs the current system but it's much lighter weight and SO much more fair and easy to understand for anyone no matter who you are etc
The Montana license plate loophole is a warning
Seems quite political to me....deals with state taxation policies.
