First and foremost, let’s establish the fact that the average working/lower middle class citizen pays 13% of his or her income in federal taxes. I can’t speak for other states, but West Virginia got me for an additional 3.4% last year. Throw in approximately 6% for social security, and that’s nearly a quarter of one’s disposable income that’s gone already. The taxpayer HAS ALREADY been taxed once by anybody and everybody who wants a piece of the pie. One-fourth of the pie is a helluva cut.
Then there are automobile taxes, paticularly of the property tax variety, but I’ll get to that shortly.
If one buys a car in the great state of West Virginia, the state (which already has 3.4 percent of the average disposable income) reaps 6% of the purchase value as a sales tax. That’s an additional $1500 on a $25,000 car, and that usually winds up costing the buyer much more than that because it winds up as part of a car payment-at 7% interest! Okay, the taxpayer is already being eaten alive, but it doesn’t end there, and this is the one that really ticks me off!
My state counts automobiles as property and charges about 1.5% of the blue book value every year. The money is collected by the individual counties and is spent on…whatever county governments blow money on! I have it on pretty good authority that nearby Maryland (or at least certain counties in that state) doesn’t do this, but that’s beside the point. Let’s take a look at some ballpark figures. The new %25,000 car is taxed for %375 its first year in the garage. From there it depreciates…
2nd year value…$17,000…tax…$255
3rd year value…$12,000…tax…$180
4th year value…$10,000…tax…$150
5th year value…$8000…tax…$120
After that, for most people, it’s time to buy a new car and start all over again, but these are the facts for a car’s lifetime. The federal government limits your ability to buy said car by 13%. The state gets $1500 for some reason. Who knows why? After that, you pay approximately $1080 over five years for the thrill of parking the car in any given county. Whoever said that double taxation shouldn’t occur? Let’s try triple, two of those pertaining directly to the purchase. This is a travesty, and it’s probably my biggest gripe concerning our already excessive taxation. Any property taxed that is not real estate is a travesty!