Behind the Scenes @ Chrysler Dealers

[tulip]

Yes, I recall that was true for Germany also.

What is the annual car tax for you NY?

It depends on the city or county tax rate. It's a personal property tax, but I think it's the only piece of personal property that they tax. They should just call it a car tax. There's the calculation of the tax and then there's a "Car Tax Relief" that cuts in in about half.

My bill is $3.70 per $100. My car is assessed at almost $13k. My total tax is almost $500, but with that relief thing, it's cut about in half.

It's based on the value of the car, not the fuel efficiency or the number of miles you drive. So if I had a 1983 Buick Regal that got 12 mpg, I'd be charged alot less than my 2007 VW Rabbit that gets 33 mpg and that I drive less than 10k miles per year.

[ny biker]

It's kind of complicated, because a while back they state passed a personal property tax relief law which lowered the payments by providing discounts, and each local government has some leeway in setting the tax rates by deciding how to apply the discounts. Here in Arlington, for the fiscal year that just started the rates are:

- $0 for the first $3000 of value
- $5 per $100 of assessed value between $3000 and $20,000, with a 43% discount deducted from that amount
- $5 per $100 of assessed value over $20,000

And to encourage people to buy hybrids, Arlington gives a 90% discount for the first $20,000 of value for qualifying clean fuel vehicles. For the past 2 years, this discount was 100%, so this will be the first year that I have to pay any tax on my 2007 Prius.

[Trek420]

Way back when, LA did have a very good trolly system. Some large companies bought out the trolly system and shut it down so they could sell more... That is if you believe the history according some "historians". Not sure who to believe these days.

Same here. We had the Key System, a network of electric trains before BART that went almost anywhere and everywhere. The system was "killed off" by the tire industry promoting busses and cars according to "historians" and elder locals I've talked to including my folks.

I found some cute posters of the era in a used book store promoting how busses and cars would revolutionize transportation here. These show happy people driving to work.

Wish they could see my hour long 20 mile commute. Thank G** for BART.

http://www.oaklandmagazine.com/media...-the-East-Bay/