5 ms·

Reminds me of being in Oklahoma City, where almost every pickup truck and SUV has a sticker on the back bumper that says 'Commercial Vehicle' presumably as some

Reminds me of being in Oklahoma City, where almost every pickup truck and SUV has a sticker on the back bumper that says 'Commercial Vehicle' presumably as some local tax loophole.

dharmab 5y ago
IIRC if you have a vehicle with a body on frame truck chassis and claim it is used 51% or more for business purpose you can pay much lower registration.
- causality0 5y ago
  It is perverse that vehicle registration isn't limited by law to at-cost fees.
  - eqvinox 5y ago
    Why is it perverse? It's a tax like many others?
    - Enginerrrd 5y ago
      Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility and that tax hits the poorest the hardest making it harder to keep that car. It's effectively rent-seeking for a low-level good without taking into account usage. They can't scale back usage to reduce that tax. It just is. Compare it to similar rent-seeking taxes on land ownership (i.e. property taxes), which affect wealthier people more able to afford the tax. I know when I was a college student, affording the registration and bare-bone insurance payments on my 25 year old honda was actually pretty non-trivial. If I couldn't afford gas on a particular month, I could find creative ways to ride-share / take public transit (sometimes) / not drive / etc. But that didn't do ANYTHING to my registration payment.
      - nicoburns 5y ago
        > Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility Really it's this that ought to be changed. Although I realise that's a much bigger task.
        Enginerrrd 5y ago
        Yeah... The rise of remote work may help that situation. But as a whole, the solutions are probably borderline infeasible since the US is just so spread out.
        IgorPartola 5y ago
        Sure. Go ahead and get your land mass compressor out. North America is huge and spread out.
        nicoburns 5y ago
        You don't need to compress the land mass, just the people within it.
    - causality0 5y ago
      That's fine, as long as it's in actual proportion to cost. For example, a single semi truck does as much damage to the road surface as 9,600 sedans. I'm more than happy to pay my fair share.
  - lostlogin 5y ago
    Are you sure you want that? If we include environmental damage in those costs I don’t think it’ll get cheaper.
notacoward 5y ago
The Massachusetts equivalent is (or at least to be) putting the name of a made-up business on a vehicle so it could go through the Ted Williams Tunnel toll-free.
dwighttk 5y ago
NC has a license plate that says “weighted” which I read as “weighed” assuming it was some commercial thing where you had to have the truck/van weighed to get that plate… (whatever… it doesn’t matter.) Weighted seems to be on commercial vehicles but I can’t figure out why “weighted.” Does NC add weights to commercial vehicles?
- js2 5y ago
  > The plate issued for vehicles licensed for 7,000 pounds through 26,000 pounds must bear the word “weighted,” unless the plate is a special registration plate authorized in G.S. 20-79.4. https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/chapter-20-motor-vehicles/nc-gen-st-sect-20-63.html https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/chapter-20-motor-vehicles/nc-ge... Explanation here: https://thecampingadvisor.com/nc-weighted-tag-cost-requirements/ https://thecampingadvisor.com/nc-weighted-tag-cost-requireme...
  - dwighttk 5y ago
    But why “weighted” instead of “heavy” or something that doesn’t mean “changed”? Oh wait, is it because the tax is “weighted” based on the weight of the vehicle?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - bsagdiyev 5y ago
      That is correct. We also have farm plates, they're red text on a white background. Those are meant to be used only during for the purpose of performing farm business. Towing, hauling stuff around, taking goods to the market (I see tons of them on the vehicles at the farmers market in Raleigh). I believe they are also subjected to a lower tax and (May?) not require their safety inspection. Edit: the weighted plate is for commercial use and over 9000lbs total (vehicle included). This can also cover non-commercial if you're hitting that weight and not hauling a camper. There are carveouts, but the tax increases with the weight of the expected max tow. The state charges a road use fee instead of a state tax on registration.
s0rce 5y ago
All pickups in California are registered as commercial vehicles and you have to pay much larger registration. I think you can get around it if you have a permanent camper installed and its an RV.
TowerTall 5y ago
Denmark has one of highest taxes on cars. Almost 300%, but if you buy a 4x4 and rip out the back seats it is now classified as a van and the tax is like 15%. I had a "van" like that for many years.

Reminds me of being in Oklahoma City, where almost every pickup truck and SUV has a sticker on the back bumper that says 'Commercial Vehicle' presumably as some local tax loophole.

dharmab 5y ago

IIRC if you have a vehicle with a body on frame truck chassis and claim it is used 51% or more for business purpose you can pay much lower registration.

causality0 5y ago
It is perverse that vehicle registration isn't limited by law to at-cost fees.
- eqvinox 5y ago
  Why is it perverse? It's a tax like many others?
  - Enginerrrd 5y ago
    Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility and that tax hits the poorest the hardest making it harder to keep that car. It's effectively rent-seeking for a low-level good without taking into account usage. They can't scale back usage to reduce that tax. It just is. Compare it to similar rent-seeking taxes on land ownership (i.e. property taxes), which affect wealthier people more able to afford the tax. I know when I was a college student, affording the registration and bare-bone insurance payments on my 25 year old honda was actually pretty non-trivial. If I couldn't afford gas on a particular month, I could find creative ways to ride-share / take public transit (sometimes) / not drive / etc. But that didn't do ANYTHING to my registration payment.
    - nicoburns 5y ago
      > Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility Really it's this that ought to be changed. Although I realise that's a much bigger task.
      - Enginerrrd 5y ago
        Yeah... The rise of remote work may help that situation. But as a whole, the solutions are probably borderline infeasible since the US is just so spread out.
      - IgorPartola 5y ago
        Sure. Go ahead and get your land mass compressor out. North America is huge and spread out.
        nicoburns 5y ago
        You don't need to compress the land mass, just the people within it.
  - causality0 5y ago
    That's fine, as long as it's in actual proportion to cost. For example, a single semi truck does as much damage to the road surface as 9,600 sedans. I'm more than happy to pay my fair share.
- lostlogin 5y ago
  Are you sure you want that? If we include environmental damage in those costs I don’t think it’ll get cheaper.

notacoward 5y ago

The Massachusetts equivalent is (or at least to be) putting the name of a made-up business on a vehicle so it could go through the Ted Williams Tunnel toll-free.

dwighttk 5y ago

NC has a license plate that says “weighted” which I read as “weighed” assuming it was some commercial thing where you had to have the truck/van weighed to get that plate… (whatever… it doesn’t matter.) Weighted seems to be on commercial vehicles but I can’t figure out why “weighted.” Does NC add weights to commercial vehicles?

js2 5y ago
> The plate issued for vehicles licensed for 7,000 pounds through 26,000 pounds must bear the word “weighted,” unless the plate is a special registration plate authorized in G.S. 20-79.4. https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/chapter-20-motor-vehicles/nc-gen-st-sect-20-63.html https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/chapter-20-motor-vehicles/nc-ge... Explanation here: https://thecampingadvisor.com/nc-weighted-tag-cost-requirements/ https://thecampingadvisor.com/nc-weighted-tag-cost-requireme...
- dwighttk 5y ago
  But why “weighted” instead of “heavy” or something that doesn’t mean “changed”? Oh wait, is it because the tax is “weighted” based on the weight of the vehicle?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - bsagdiyev 5y ago
    That is correct. We also have farm plates, they're red text on a white background. Those are meant to be used only during for the purpose of performing farm business. Towing, hauling stuff around, taking goods to the market (I see tons of them on the vehicles at the farmers market in Raleigh). I believe they are also subjected to a lower tax and (May?) not require their safety inspection. Edit: the weighted plate is for commercial use and over 9000lbs total (vehicle included). This can also cover non-commercial if you're hitting that weight and not hauling a camper. There are carveouts, but the tax increases with the weight of the expected max tow. The state charges a road use fee instead of a state tax on registration.

s0rce 5y ago

All pickups in California are registered as commercial vehicles and you have to pay much larger registration. I think you can get around it if you have a permanent camper installed and its an RV.

TowerTall 5y ago

Denmark has one of highest taxes on cars. Almost 300%, but if you buy a 4x4 and rip out the back seats it is now classified as a van and the tax is like 15%. I had a "van" like that for many years.