Thought this group might get a laugh out of this... My wife got an unsolicited offer to buy her 400i in the mail today from the BAAQMD, Bay Area Air Quality Management District. $650!!
My offer will top all others, but you must act fast -- $1,000.00 Does that happen a lot? I don't necessarily mean to you, but does the BAAQMD routinely offer money for cars? What for?
Thanks everybody for all the generous offers... The BAAQMD is your typical myopic government agency. The voluntary buy back program is supposed to help clean up the air by removing 1987 & older vehicles. "...older vehicles have less efficient emission control equipment...". IMHO the program has at least a couple of flaws vehicles "...must be registered ... for past 24 months ... must take and pass their smog check." !? they don't look at the Make they don't check smog test history. I got one of the same insulting letters a few years ago on one of my other cars, I'm the original owner of a 1981 that has passed smog checks the first time, every time, on time... ... if nothing else, our government is good for a laugh now and then...
It would be easy to laugh if it was some other government, this just reminds me of my tax bill and how it is pissed away. Larry
Here in SC, we pay a property tax on our vehicles. When I moved here, my 1994 Toyota Camry cost $50+. My Ferrari 308 cost $17. They don't care what kind of car it is. If it's older (I think 1987 may be the cutoff), they don't care about mileage or value. Now I have a 1980 Jeep and I pay the same as the Ferrari. Ain't government grand?
So let me get this straight: In SC you pay an annual 'road tax' or vehicle licence duty, a 'fee' (tax) for your annual emission control test, possibly as much as 60% tax built in to every gallon of gas you buy, tax on top of your insurance payments and now you have to pay another 'property' tax just to OWN a car in order to pay all the other taxes in the first place !! Sounds like Uncle Sam's got you by the cojones all right !
?? Emission control test? If you are talking about vehicle inspections, we don't have that in SC. Anyway, there are a lot of taxes here. BUT, home property tax is only $1600 on 1/2 acre That's why I like Florida...no car tax, no inspections, so state income tax. Of course property taxes (home) are higher.
Sorry, I'm not up to speed on the vehicle inspection systems in the US but I thought I read somewhere that some sort of annual emission test was mandatory. Anyway I do know that in the UK, for example, there is an annual MOT test on all vehicles over three years of age, ostensibly to prevent guys driving around with faulty lights and dodgy brakes etc. In effect of course its just another government tax which if you try to dodge it you get heavily fined; another tax ! Is it California that has the strictest emission laws ?
California has toughest emmission law. However, some other states copy their standard. As far as annual inspection goes, each state is different. Some require emmissions check thru OBD or tailpipe sniffer. Some require safety inspection for brakes/lights/rust,visual presence of smog equipment, etc. while some don't have any safety inspection.
Actually, South Carolina is a bad example, as taxes here are dirt cheap. Taxes and rules/regulations vary from state to state. I moved here from New Jersey, and here are some comparisons: NJ Sales Tax on vehicles - 7% of purchase price ($700 on a $10,000 car, $7,000 on a $100,000 car). SC Sales Tax on vehicles - 5% of purchase price, capped at $300. (So a buyer of a used $6,000 Honda Civic and a buyer of a new Bentley would both pay $300.) NJ Property Tax on vehicles - None SC Property Tax on vehicles - as stated in above message, varies based on the year of the vehicle. My 2007 BMW 328 has annual property taxes of approximately $400, but the 1986 Ferrari 328 is taxed at $16. The taxes drop as the vehicle ages. NJ Property Tax on land/house - varies county to county - my old house of 2200 square feet on .15 acres was taxed at $7000. SC Property Tax on land/house - varies county to county - my current house of 3300 square feet on 1/3 acre of lakefront is taxed at $2300. NJ Vehicle inspection - Mandatory safety and emission inspection every four years for new vehicles. SC Vehicle inspection - none (Be careful out there!)
Actually the gas tax in the U.S. is much less than 60%. The overall combined state and federal gas tax average is about $0.42/gallon which at current gas prices of just over $4.00/gallon (and dropping recently in the last few days) is just over 10%. The stated purpose of the gas tax is to help pay for roads and bridges, although I don't know if that is where the money really goes.
Here's an indication of the total tax paid in the UK as of last year....and you can bet your ar$e that the money doesn't get spent on roads and bridges there either.....another one of the very many reasons I emigrated to South Africa !! Image Unavailable, Please Login
That money goes into programs like ISTEA, TEA-21, and, SAFETEA-LU. These are the federal programs that provide for highway infrastructure improvements and monitoring systems like video cameras and the large electronic signs over the roadway. The Big-Dig in Boston is a $14B dollar example. If you drive through lower NY, you'll see cameras and signs on most highways. The whole thing has really turned into a pile of crap. Around half the money was simply wasted.
I am originally from the Republic of NJ too. Thought about moving back -- for about a minute! Definitely cheaper here in this part of the South.
I live in NJ now and my house property tax is the same dollar amount is it was in TX, for a house of half the value. The TX utility (MUD, sic) tax was higher than the school tax and schools showed it. Yes, we pay a lot of tax in NJ but at least we have an education system. (Sorry Dave, but I had one kid go through each system.) Now for tax on car sales. When I live in Belgium the VAT on new or used cars was 25%. The income tax on my co-workers was 55%. I believe this has changed since the 80's via the EU normalizing some of the tax rates. Ken p.s. Is this a Ferrari chat board??
John, I have a great story concerning the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, I had just completed the top end overhaul on my GT4, I was headed out for the FIRST drive and headed up the 880. A young kid in a slick black suit came screaming up next to me in a Prius. I only payed attention because it was such an aggressive move. Now remember, I'm on the maiden voyage after a top end over haul, just trying to figure things out and see what's wrong - it had been a year since I had driven the car. The kid in the Prius honks his horn, I look at him and he pinches his nose and flips me the bird!! Now I'm amused but much more concerned about the ops of the car. So I step on it a little and move up the road. A couple of seconds later the same kid is right back on my side pulling the same manuvuer AGAIN. Nose business and away flys another middle finger salute!! Well now I'm more then pissed off and decided "that its high time for an Italian tune up" for this new engine. Pulled in front of him and downshifted from 5th to 2nd, the tach wrapped around and the biggest cloud of ugly, sticky black stuff came pumping out of the GT4 and all over the Prius. The car felt better after the "tune up" and so did the driver. Three weeks later, I got the same "offer". Seems a person can write to the District and they are required to offer to buy the car. CA crap, best place in the country to dive an old car and a bunch *&^%$#@#$%^& people who want to stop ya !! argh !
