School me on investing...

According to the Googles, 27 states have personal property tax(including my state, Missouri) where you pay a tax for the privilege of owning your car every year. It does tend to be a bit of a wash, as states that don't have personal property tax tend to have higher vehicle registration rates. At the end of the day, they're gonna get their money out of you, one way or another.

Case in point, New York does not have personal property tax. Yet they are #1 on overall tax burden whereas Missouri does have personal property tax yet is #42 in overall tax burden.

 

I'm in NY, my truck registration just came for renewal, $87 a year. What would your tax be on a 2004 truck ?

 

It is property tax on all vehicles paid annually. I am in Alexandria City, Virginia, inside the DC beltway.

The tax is levied on cars, trucks, trailers, motorcycles, RVs, boats and I think even planes. Fortunately, it is not levied on motorcycles that are not registered for the street, so the track day bike doesn't have to pay. The calculation varies by county or city jurisdiction. Military and US congress get some exemptions. Cars and light trucks worth less than $5k don't have to pay, but that doesn't apply to the other vehicle categories.

The ppt tax calculation is complex, but it was $1800 this year for the Volvo, $240 for the Touareg, $43 for the 2007 Tuono, and the 2012 6x12 enclosed trailer finally got to be worth little enough they didn't tax it this year. Due to the spike in used vehicle prices in 2023, the city did give us a 10% break on the NADA vehicle values used for calculations. Bless their hearts. Our home's property tax is way more than that of course. Living inside the beltway isn't cheap and that doesn't just apply to taxes and housing. Fuel, groceries, restaurants, plumbers, landscaping, dry cleaning, etc. are all more expensive than further out. For us it is worth it, so my wife doesn't have a long commute into DC.

 

Wut?

 

See the post above your post for details. Plunking down $50 large for the car plus $2 grand annually? OK, so it generally goes down every year, but still for that kind of cash, the Touareg is just fine as long as it doesn't start costing me $2 grand a year in repairs to keep it on the road. Only issue I have with it is a bit of a dash rattle in the wintertime. Going to try to track it down when it gets cold enough out. The Dieselgate warranty has expired, but I do still have the cash payout to use on repairs.

 

I agree. Had she asked me I would have told her not to do that, but at the time she was going to give it to her 16 year old son. He did not want that and got a Toyota Tacoma.

 

I had no idea this was a thing, and I thought NY was bad.

 

GA used to do the same.

 

If DPF lets go, and you don’t have annual vehicle inspections, go for the full exhaust system which eliminates all the BS. Best money you can spend on that car. I’ve yet to meet anyone that’s regretted ditching the OEM setup.

 

EPR Properties has done me well. Pays monthly dividends and is relatively cheap.

 

Question with limited context.

House #1: ~$600k in equity, remaining loan at 2.76%. Primary home.

House #2: ~$250k in equity, remaining loan at 4.00%. Rental property.

What's the best way to leverage this equity? Would it be a HELOC? Is a HELOC a viable way to essentially get a low interest loan on another investment? Should these funds be used for another real estate investment, or would there be a better way to leverage these funds?

 

What are you trying to accomplish?

 

interesting. do you also pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle?
How about if you lease? do you still pay this property tax?

 

I'd need to know what you want as the outcome. Paid off primary residence? Cash flow from the rental? Either way HELOC is a dirty word.