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People would just make the purchase out-of-state. They're already doing this to avoid steep sales taxes on cars. Some people even keep their vehicle registere
by maxk42 7y ago
People would just make the purchase out-of-state.
They're already doing this to avoid steep sales taxes on cars. Some people even keep their vehicle registered out-of-state to avoid registration fees as well.
- Analemma_ 7y agoI don't know about California, but in Washington state when you register a car that was previously registered in another state, you have to provide proof that you paid sales tax on it, and you have to pay a use tax if you can't do that. Presumably CA would just apply an identical use tax to cars purchased in any state without their standard. Now, sure, some people could dodge the system, but they don't really matter: the point is to make it inconvenient enough for automakers that they only produce vehicles meeting the CA standard.
- Mountain_Skies 7y agoIn Georgia it doesn't matter what taxes you paid in the state your moving from, you still must pay a title tax on the current market value of your vehicles.
- Rebelgecko 7y agoIt's similar in CA. If you register a car from out of state, California still gets a cut. And California typically doesn't let you register cars from elsewhere that don't meet CA emissions standards (aka cars that have an "EPA" sticker under the hood but not a "CARB" one)
- nivenhuh 7y agoNot true. You can register cars purchased out of state, that are non-carb compliant. See exemptions page: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr29 https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast...
- Rebelgecko 7y agoMost of the exceptions are pretty big life events (divorce, death of a relative, military PCS). That why I said "typically" in my comment, it's not something you can really do at-will
- tzs 7y ago> I don't know about California, but in Washington state when you register a car that was previously registered in another state, you have to provide proof that you paid sales tax on it, and you have to pay a use tax if you can't do that ...and if you DID pay sales tax on it, but the rate is lower than the Washington use tax, you have to pay the difference. Funny story about this. My Constitutional Law professor at the University of Washington School of Law had been at or near the top of his class at Harvard or Yale or whichever top law school he went to, then clerked at the Supreme Court. So he was pretty well versed in Constitutional law. Then he accepted the position at UW, hoped into his newly purchased car, and headed cross country to Seattle. Washington's sales/use tax was considerably higher than that of whatever state he came from...and when he was told he had to pay the difference, he was outraged, and was sure this had to be unconstitutional. He was quite surprised when he hit the UW law library to research this and found out that it was legal.
- F147H34D 7y agoYou need residency to register a car. Also, if you purchase a car out of state it doesn’t matter. The taxes get levied when you register it.
- dsfyu404ed 7y agoLike everything else that's done by state law it varies by state. Some states require you to register any car that is primarily used and stored in the state.
- empath75 7y agothe fact that some people break laws does not imply that we should not have them.