Hi All,

I am curious.
In my country, the one deciding the value is the Police , DMV division...sort of.
Some of the $$ goes to the city too.

The value of the road tax for my country is set by the Police-DMV based on car price when new and its super crazy slow depreciation.
Example my E400 is based on today's value of US$62,634 as per today's exchange and times 2.06% = US$1,288.29 this year. Actually 2% plus plus.
* My 2014 E400 2nd hand market value I believed no higher than US$35,000 today 2022 as realistic. Brand new in 2014 it was US$108K.

This 2.06 % is based on first car, if a 2nd car we get whack 2.5% ( additional 0.5%) of the 2nd car value per DMV calculation and 3rd car is 3% and so on up to 17th car or more where you max out at 10%.
So a 17th car you own if say US$100K, annual road tax = US$10K a year.
If your first car is say a low cost US$20K car and your 2nd one bought today a US$100K car, it can be cheaper to first sell your US$20K car and pay sales tax at 1% of DMV value,
then register your US$100K car as 1st car and then you buy back your US$20K car and pay 1% again and it then becomes 2nd car

US$20K car 2% loss sell & buy back = US$400 + some small document fee
0.5% extra for say 10 years is 5% (assumed flat value ) from a U$20K and is $1,000 only. So 400 + 1000 = US$1,400 extra expenses to keep the US$20K car extra 10 years.
If your 100K car becomes 2nd car at 2.5% instead of 1st car with 2% ( use 2% and not 2.06% for easy calculation ), and own this car for 10 years...
you end up paying 0.5% extra x 10 years = 5% flat of US$100K = US$5K extra for 10 years.

Singapore is one of the worst if not the WORST place to own a car and if higher than 230kw, you pay a lot of annual road tax too but decent , 3,000cc petrol engine and must be under 10 years old is US$1,719 per year.
Annual road tax is not the killer, the rights to OWN A CAR for 10 years is the killer, the call it Certificate of Entitlement ( CoE )
This is the price you must bid to own/buy the 10 years CoE for various HP/KW or engine cc cars in Singapore https://www.motorist.sg/coe-results
1,600cc or above 110Kw, Sin$95K for the CoE only, excluding the car price. That is US$69.5K

 

In the US, every state is different, in Ohio we pay 42.00 USD a year, ten dollars more if we need new plates. we also pay sales tax on the initial purchase of 8% once, wether new or used. We do have an annual tax for electrics and hybrids that is 200 dollars or so, which is more than reasonable because they use the roads and the gas tax goes towards repairing them.

 

That is very low "annual road-tax" nice Pierre.
Jakarta ( nation wide ) brand new car our sales tax is 10%, used is that 1% which is not sales tax per se, but its called NAME/OWNERSHIP CHANGE FEE
... at least there is comfort in the sales tax for used car for my country.

 

In Virginia I pay a sales tax when I purchase the car (4.15% of sales price), and then an annual "personal property tax" on every car I own based on assessed value. For my 4 cars, that's about 1500 a year at this point (1987 560SL, 1999 ML320, 2007 E320 Bluetec, 2015 E400). That is about 3.5% of their assessed value. In the past, this declined every year as your vehicle value declined. Fortunately, in these tough times, the *******s that suck everything up and provide nothing of value managed to increase the assessed values of everyone's car for 2022, so people owe more. In addition, I pay a annual registration and tags "fee", which is just another tax. I also am mandated to pay an $18 annual state inspection. In certain counties, I also have to pay for an annual emissions inspection. This is in addition to that, 18.3 cents (federal) and 26.2 cents (state) per gallon of gas are paid as a tribute to the state. This is all while my government prints more fake money and reduces the value of of my savings while increasing the cost of everything at a rate of 10% a year. But fortunately we are using lots of our fake money to fund a proxy war with russia and convince the rest of the world to abandon the petrodollar, which means I will need to be taxed more to help pay for all of those DEI programs that are assisting to tear the social fabric of what's left of this country apart.

 

Yes, the US$ printing is also killing my currency value and inflation is creeping over here too...

 

Well said and spot on! When I had a car registered in Arizona, I remember paying by value which went down every year. Our gas tax breakdown in Ohio is similar to Virginia's

 

Our subsidized petrol price is being "held" down by the government. Because too many poor people and this is a sensitive political issue.
However the quality is super crap and the octane RON is 90 and usually its a bullshi-et 90, most likely 88 like what it used to be long time ago. Subsidized price US$0.53 per liter or US$2.01 per US gallon
There are restrictions of the class of cars which CAN NOT buy this fuel, well it has to be that way otherwise it will be abused.

I usually use these two below for my E400, which recently only managed to get Euro 4 classification. 12 years too late LOL.
If I buy Shell nitro+ 98 RON, is is now US$1.20 per liter or US$4.54 per US Gallon.
If I buy state oil company one, 98 RON non subsidy it is US$1.00 per liter or US$3.78 per US gallon.

The lower 92 RON non subsidy is US$0.86 per liter or US$3.25 per US$ gallon.

All above fuel prices are as-is and no more tax on it.


Our non subsidized fuel prices has been a bit higher than USA for some time , I mean before Covid and crazy Putin war. In 2015 to 2019 is a good example I paid more than US.

 

Denmark has high tax on price paid for vehicle purchase. 150% is a marginal tax bracket for luxury vehicles.

 

Annual license tags are $151 in Illinois. There are no other taxes and fees unless you live in a city that requires you to purchase a vehicle sticker to operate. Those are $50-$100 max

 

What is the registration or title fee when buying a vehicle used or new?

 

I think I paid $75 for a new title on a used car last year and minimal tax. There is a tax schedule for used cars depending on year with descending value. New cars, you pay whatever the county tax is. 9-10%
Registration or plates are, once again $151

 

Yes, I heard Denmark was going the Finland route to get all ICE's off the road, but cities in Europe were set up when ox carts and walking was commonplace, our cities are more geared to cars. I have done a lot of work in Europe so have spent a lot of time there, If I lived in my two favorite cities Madrid or Milan, I would only need a car for weekend touring. I would use a Vespa in the cities and stay on small Via's

 

Wisconsin charges $85/year for vehicle registration. Thankfully, it is not based upon value -- everyone pays the same. There is an additional fee if you have personalized or special plates.

Wisconsin excise tax on gasoline is $0.33/gallon.

 

Yes, our "known" road tax seems relatively low, however there are a lot of hidden taxes in every gallon of gas we pump to subsidize our roads as well. An interesting fact, it is illegal for gas stations(at least in Illinois) to post what all the taxes are(which doesnt make any sense to me) and show the pretax cost of gas. I would guess we pay a lot more than we realize but we have been accustomed to paying what the corrupt government tells us.

Chris

 

In Illinois we are the only state in the union that makes it mandatory for anyone 75 and older to take a drivers road test. Here is the rule: Illinois state rules Specifically, Illinois:

• requires drivers age 75 and older to renew their licenses in person
• requires both a vision test and road test for drivers ages 75 and older renewing in person
• requires drivers ages 81 through 86 to renew their license every two years, and those 87 and older to renew annually, and
• accepts requests from physicians and members of law enforcement or the judicial system to conduct an unsafe driver investigation.
• Some states require vision test and others require a driving test only if driver looks unfit to drive or has had tickets. We are the only state that requires mandatory drivers test. Why ? I believe this is bias against seniors. I thik you have to pay for the test but I am not sure. Next year I will find out.

 

This is getting interesting, thanks guys...all of you

 

Here in the US we also have "Toll" roads which is another type of theft under the guise of the money going to improve the roads you pay to use...

Chris

 

Well, in my country any "nicer" road is a Toll road and it is not free.
The many free-of-charge insterstate you guys have in the US, those are my Toll roads 100% all paid ones, no freebies

I once was on a car back in 1997 from Miami to Port of Savanna (500 miles approx ) to meet up with my client's yacht , where it will be shipped out of Savanna to Singapore.
Mainly it was free highway, as I recalled. Not tired at all, it was so fast , for me it was fast due to decent speed the highway offer ....no crazy traffic.

Do the same distance on my Java Island, use the highway it is 100% paid ones and about US$60 1 way. Like 5 or 6 different paid highways I have to use.
This is as far as I can go on Java Island highway, the paid ones if I drive Jakarta to Bali, only 74% of the journey has paid highways. https://*******/maps/8SuA7GwcbxkGQaBD7 ( google map link not allowed ?? )
Only 554 miles, minimum 10-11 hours due to traffic density. If not via paid highways, minimum 20 hours for the same journey but on different rural roads.

The rest of the 200 miles to Bali from end of the paid highway , it is all FREE but it is rural/village grade roads, 1 lane each, 2 way traffic. 12 hours minimum because there is a ferry ride.
I hope they complete end to end Java island paid highway soon.

I do envy your interstate highway system. I last drove a rental in California back in 2015, super short US visit 5-6 days only.
Due to unfamiliarity with the many lanes highway and how the split are, I was kinda terrified to be honest...ha ha ha, it was a night drive I feel discomfort most.
My local highway are of lesser lanes, usually 2 lanes, max 3 lanes and no middle split/interconnection the way CA has.

 

I would agree, mostly. But here in Ohio we passed a law requiring Ohio to spend turnpike money on the turnpike, we had the full highway paved to three lanes and four in spots from Pennsylvania to Indiana in less than four years and it's in great shape and 70 mph limit.

 

My Uncle lives in White Hall, IL. He takes the eye test and driver's test every year (for several years now). He tells me he doesn't mind, cause the tests are free. He just has to remember to go to city hall in his birthday month. His last time, the ride-along officer couldn't find any reason to take points from his exam, so he aced it.

He is 99... (100 in September)

 

The tax on gas is so high in Illinois, in pert because it is assessed on a percentage rate, 17.3% to be precise. So as gas wholesale + retail markup increase, the tax amount increases on the higher sum total.

This is different from states that assess gasoline taxes on a flat-rate basis. Here in TX, the flat rate is 20¢ per gallon, period (no matter what the gas price is, up or down). 15¢ goes to road improvements, and the remaining 5¢ goes for public education. I pay $25 for an annual safety and emissions inspection, plus $76 or so for the annual registration renewal.

Here is a nifty source for gas taxes in all states.... https://igentax.com/gas-tax-state/

 

my son has a 370Z show car. 800 miles on it. He went in for emission test. They rejected his car because 2 items were not able to be read. We found out that when he changed his battery a few months ago, all readings were erased then, and you have to put several hundred miles on the car both highway and city stop and go in order for the readings to be read. So now he is forced to drive the car and put miles on it in order to pass emission testing. He has a month to do the driving. Should be some way they can pass it if they cannot read the sensors.

 

Since it's a show car, I'm assuming he is a member at a Nissan Enthusiasts Forum. He can inquire there as to how many miles he really has to put on the car... several hundred miles sounds way too many for me. I installed a new MAF sensor in my W203, and it took just 40-50 miles for the error code to delete.

 

This is how we are taxed here in Hong Kong , and in case you don't notice US$1= HK$7.8.

 

Here in Connecticut, here's how it works.

*I'm thinking about buying a car =thought tax
*Maybe a used car =downgrade tax
*I'm going to go test drive a car =use our road tax
*Wow the weather sure is nice to test drive today = sunny with 80 mph winds tax
*i like this car, but want to try a new car = indecisive tax
*The dealer is in Bridgeport? = waterfront view tax
*there's a good deal up in Vermont = $ state to state tax conversion tax.
* i need a day to think this over = delay of purchase tax
* purchase of vehicle = congratulations tax
*DMV REGISTRATION = We need your first born child, an original copy of the declaration of independence , 3 different sized moon rocks collected by the left hand of buzz aldrin.
* this sucks = you ain't seen nothing yet tax
* 6.35% of original dealer purchase price + $113 registration/clean air acr/ plates. Then 6.35% annually state, then 70% of assessed value annually by town