Insane CA DMV Registration Tax

Not to make fun of anyone’s profession but why should these Calpine guys make less than lifeguards in LA County? I would think the latter has an easier time. Not easy, just not as stressful.
The LA lifeguards are public employees with an obvious abuse of overtime.

Calpine is private. The public utility guys around there are Silicon Valley Power (SVP). They’re part of the City of Santa Clara.
 
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So he should mortgage his home to pay car registration fees?
Yes- absolutely if that's what it takes. A reverse mortgage ( assuming he qualifies) is the most misunderstood loan instrument in the mortgage industry.
 
I move to CA in 99 and brought 2 vehicles with me. They charged an out of state fee that I can’t recall now, but was over the top for sure.

Thankfully it was determined to be an illegal fee and I was refunded later.

My move to IA yielded much worse registration fees as well as much higher insurance rates. Our property tax is high as well, double what I paid in CA for double the house, though my house would be $1M in CA. Quality of life here is much better.

The nice thing is I don’t have to smog and a 10 year old vehicle is only $50 to renew.
 
south Carolina is no bargain either
Huh?
South Carolina is pennies. like less than $50. I think you are referring to the property tax on vehicles, boats, planes and homes and that varies by county. The OP is posting about state registration renewal.

Not only that but you pay sales tax on vehicle purchases in CA.

In SC, no matter how much money you spend on a Plane, Car, Boat etc the max sales tax is $500
Buy a CyberTruck for $125,000? The sales tax is $500
Buy an airplane for 1.5 million, the sales tax is $500

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Yes, you will pay annual county property tax on the above items, that goes for a lot of states and cost dependent on the county which you live in. Not a state annual tax.
 
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Registration is zero $ for personal use vehicles in Ontario
And we have free health insurance.
However, top income tax rate is 54ish %, sales tax is 13%, and property taxes are high, I'm over $8000 a year. If I was on city water and sewer, add $1500.
Gasoline is $5 a gallon.
And I get to pay 32% tax on my propane to heat the house, our carbon tax is after the sales tax, so it taxes the sales tax.
 
Virginia is kind of high, but I have a choice to buy an old POS where the tax is cheap. I paid $1,300 personal property tax for a '23 Cadillac, '18 Cherokee, '12 Chevy truck, '99 Chaparral boat w/trailer. License plates are in addition to that but they're not too bad.
 
That is why I asked what year it is.
My BMW is $90. Tiguan is $70 and something. Sequoia? I am waiting bill for first registration, but cannot see how it is going to be below $700.
Colorado.....Son just paid over 700.00 for his new 24 Golf R registration. I just paid close to 600 for 25 Mazda cx30 (preferred trim so not fancy). My 18 Mazda 3's last registration just before I got the cx30 was over 200.00 for 6 year old car !!!! My 2002 Nissan PU is, however, only about 75 bucks. Those mountain roads are costing us a fortune to keep maintained because it sure isn't being spent on the interstates.
 
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Colorado.....Son just paid over 700.00 for his new 24 Golf R registration. I just paid close to 600 for 25 Mazda cx30 (preferred trim so not fancy). My 18 Mazda 3's last registration just before I got the cx30 was over 200.00 for 6 year old car !!!! My 2002 Nissan PU is, however, only about 75 bucks. Those mountain roads are costing us a fortune to keep maintain I guess because it sure isn't being spent on the interstates.
CO roads are very hard to maintain bcs. weather. Plus, per capita, CO spends least on roads compared to KS, WY, NM, UT, AZ and NE.
 
I've lived here since 1974 and the roads are about as bad as I've ever seen. That's not just mountain roads which I know are expensive to maintain. The amount they spend every year on the elevated portion of I-70 between eagle and Glenwood Springs has to be staggering! We travel a lot in all directions and I have to say our interstate conditions are deplorable and sometimes downright embarrassing.
 
Here in Iowa it's very close to 1% of the MSRP of the vehicle...and stays at that figure for a number of years..
 
I view state budgets like an individual person's budget, where a regular person would cut costs to live within their means.
Unfortunately some states won't ever budget responsibliy, and then to cover their over spending, they enact insane DMV fees.
 
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