Alert! New Virginia Transportation Bill

This bill will increase the cost of titling a vehicle. It has passed in the General assembly but Governor McDonnell has amended it and it has been sent back. If you are on the verge of titling a vehicle, better do it pronto, before some glitches are worked out. Depending on a vehicle's valuation, you could be saving a pretty good chunk of change by acting fast.

Dave, he has also amended a yearly tax bill on Hybrid automobiles too. Began at $100.00, now down to $64.00. I don't think it applied to electrics?

Crazy times. I wrote and suggested an across the board fuel tax increase, but...? Oh well.

Not a Virginian, so please educate me. What is "tilting a vehicle?" Tow?

"Tilting" a vehicle is perhaps an old Virginia custom going back to the horse and buggy days when there were no level roads. In modern days it would most likely be called a "Typo".

Crazy times. I wrote and suggested an across the board fuel tax increase, but...? Oh well.

That's exactly what they're trying to avoid. The reason is because people like me (hybrid owner) are cheating the system by not buying enough gas to support it. Gas sales are crashing as the absurdly oversized/thirsty SUVs die off that supported the system for 20+ years with little or no gas tax increases ( U.S. Total Gasoline Retail Sales by Refiners (Thousand Gallons per Day) ). If they tried to make up the difference with gas taxes that truly compensated for the unprecedented decline in fuel sales we are seeing the number would be so high (state & Federal) we'd be seeing France-like protests from truckers (and probably most of the people reading this).

Actions like this have been coming for a long time. I posted this on the forum 4 years ago ( http://forums.aaca.org/f133/new-tax-law-driving-258280.html ):

Suffice as to say there is some very serious concern about how roads are going to be maintained as fuel consumption declines in the coming years. (I mentioned the coming increases in C.A.F.E. standards beginning in 2011 on another thread and just the mention of them was deamed too political, so I won't here.)

As alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicles, and high-mileage hybrid vehicles take over as the norm there is going to be a GIANT drop in the funds available to build and maintain roads. That drop has already begun, and is in fact about 2 years along on a steep curve right now. You can bet that SOME form of tax is going to be raised to make up the difference. If it's a simple fuel tax increase (of the type that has always taken place when funds were needed), it means that old cars will be paying a disproportionally large share of the burden. A mileage-based charge was one means, Orwellian or no, to try and prevent that.

My guess is that your license plates are about to become REALLY expensive no matter what kind of car you drive! You can bet that no system that encourages older cars over newer ones will be allowed to stand no matter what happens. Maybe they will just raise gas taxes, as apparently most people here would prefer.

Notice that my last line then and your suggestion above are roughly the same, but the perspective of both is vastly different.

Just to give some insight into the potential impact of the increased tax included in the Virginia Transportation Bill, lets say you bought a $25,000 antique car and live in Virginia. The current tax when titling it is 3%, which amounts to $750. As if that weren't enough, the cost when the new Transportation Bill is signed climbs to $1,037.50, an increase of $287.50! This amount assumes that the General Assembly will approve Gov. McDonnell's amended tax figure of 4.15%. If their proposed rate of 4.3% prevails, it's even worse. Likely not a good trade-off for the decreased gas tax if you are buying any respectable cars.

...the cost when the new Transportation Bill is signed climbs to $1,037.50, an increase of $287.50!...Likely not a good trade-off for the decreased gas tax if you are buying any respectable cars.

Driving 15,000 miles/yr. in my hybrid Prius, I save almost that much (about $250.00) in gas every three months (though obviously not in gas taxes alone) over what I'd get driving the same size/same purchase cost/same equipment/same performance/etc. 4 cylinder Camry of the same year. Like it or not, this is progress.

Seriously, use the comparison tool at fueleconomy.gov to compare hybrid and regular versions of similar cars ( Compare Side-by-Side ). Moving ourselves around is getting cheaper every day!:cool:

...... Moving ourselves around is getting cheaper every day!:cool:

Dave, you amaze me. The automobiles are getting more expensive everyday, the service can mostly only be done in the dealership's shop, and the taxes on new vehicles are getting higher every year. You have noticed that, right?:confused:

Click on the link I left. Type in your car/truck/SUV. Type in the Prius, Insight, or C-Max hybrids (more to come in the coming years). And then look at the fuel savings in dollars. If you haven't done that you do not have an informed opinion.

I am not from Virginia, but I do have a few comments.

Since the gas tax is supposed to be for road repairs and hybrid owners are not paying their fair share of that tax the state should get the money for road use from some where.

I personally thing the road taxes paid for cars should be based on the weight of the car and how many miles it is driven per year and a hybrid should ultimately pay the same tax rate as a similar weight fossil fuel car. The heavier the car is and the more miles it is driven per year the more you should pay in taxes.

Since this is an "Antique Auto Forum" the real comments should be related to how this new vehicle title bill will affect antique cars.

Vila

1933 Chevrolet

1962 Triumph TR4

1984 BMW 633 CSi

R. W., There is no doubt that the cost of getting around has escalated. As for my preference in "driver" vehicles, I have a very nice luxury car for my wife to drive, but I have always driven older, easier to fix cars, and run them into the ground, or with some I liked a lot that were still alive when they became of age, they were kept got antique registrations. Current driver, '93 Buick LeSabre Limited.

Since this is an "Antique Auto Forum" the real comments should be related to how this new vehicle title bill will affect antique cars.

Vila

1933 Chevrolet

1962 Triumph TR4

1984 BMW 633 CSi

The effect as I see it is a temporary avoidance of higher gas taxes. If they were really at the rate they should be (i.e. the same percentage of gas prices they were 10-15 years ago) to truly maintain the roads and transportation infrastructure, you'd be looking at a 70-80 cent/gallon increase in just the Federal taxes. State tax increases are likely (eventually) going to be higher than that. Start thinking about $6-$7/gal. gasoline with no change in the wholesale price and these fees start to make sense.

And that increase doesn't take into account the massively reduced use of gasoline we are seeing now and will see in spades in the future. Toss that in the mix and you can see where this is going VERY quickly, and why I cited the French (really all of Europe) trucker strikes of 12-15 years ago as something possible in this situation.

Now if (most people today would say "when" instead) you're driving a 50 mpg car, that's not going to affect your use of it that much. What's it going to do the use/enjoyment of to a 12 mpg 1971 Oldsmobile or 1940 Lincoln Zephyr?

Tour now, while you still can!

So back to Dave's original comment that started this thread, exactly what is this bill going to do the cost of getting a "TITLE" for a car and more specific how is this going to affect getting a title for an antique car?

I can always tell when I get someone fired up, they start quoting me.

Vila

1933 Chevrolet

1962 Triumph TR4

1984 BMW 633 CSi

The present titling tax is 3% of a vehicle's value. An antique car is taxed at the same rate. The General Assembly passed the new Transportation Bill with the rate of 4.3%. However, Gov. McDonnell didn't sign it, and it was sent back with amendments, including a reduction to 4.15% for the titling tax. We'll have to wait to see how it comes out in final form. It may not be as bad as first thought, the increase could turn out to be incremental over a four year period.

As long as they don't get the notion to put AV/AQ registrations back in the personal property tax system, I can live with their little titling tax increase.

'Course with a certain 14th House District legislator on the loose that is always a possibility.

The worst part is cash-hungry local governments who are getting creative with revenue schemes. An op-ed in the local paper this morning mentioned that this city's restaurant meals tax is higher than the state sales tax and the city is rattling about increasing it again. Guess they want to put all the restaurants out of business too- when they're all gone, there won't be much else left here to tax, so you can about count on them looking toward old cars or other hobbies.

ny charges the regular sales tax rate, low of 8% up to 9.75 depending the county you live in,