How does your state work?

Can't say that I'm a fan of either Maine flag.
I think the the flag guy video is pretty spot on for his graphic design assessments.
The comment about kerning was hysterical to me.
 
Do amendments in all states have to get 60% to pass? I know that's how it's it is here in Florida because there are two important amendments, one about legalizing pot and another about abortion, but I wonder if that's how it works for every state. I imagine each state can make their own rules.
 
When I was young – last century – the Los Angeles County sales tax rate was 4%. One might think that as our population continues to increase, the sales tax rate wouldn't need to be raised – but it is now an outrageous 10.25%. In every election, our stupid gullible voters approve every tax hike that is on the ballot. This week, a majority voted in favor of Measure A, which will raise the sales tax rate to 10.5%. The extra revenue is supposed to help deal with the homelessness crisis but we all know the money will be wasted.

Hey, homeless people, here's a novel idea: Clean yourselves up, get a job and start earning money and then you can rent an apartment or buy a house!
 
The problem is that California is too big. If you wanted to buy elsewhere, where are you going to go? Where I am, there are 3 states to choose from.

But also, how the hell does income and property taxes not suffice? With a high cost of living, the state must bring in a lot from those.
 
Many residents of northern California shop in Oregon, where there is no sales tax. But if they purchase a new car in Oregon and regisater it in California, they will have to pay the California sales tax. "But wait," you might be thinking, "Can't they register the car in Oregon?" Yes – but northern California police and the California Highway Patrol run DMV checks on vehicles with Oregon license plates. If the car is registered to a California driver, he'll get a notice in the mail and be required to pay the California sales tax even though he bought the car in Oregon. Los Angeles County's sales tax rate will soon be 10.5%. The tax on a $25,000 car will be $2,625.
 
Channel98 said:
Many residents of northern California shop in Oregon, where there is no sales tax. But if they purchase a new car in Oregon and regisater it in California, they will have to pay the California sales tax. "But wait," you might be thinking, "Can't they register the car in Oregon?" Yes – but northern California police and the California Highway Patrol run DMV checks on vehicles with Oregon license plates. If the car is registered to a California driver, he'll get a notice in the mail and be required to pay the California sales tax even though he bought the car in Oregon. Los Angeles County's sales tax rate will soon be 10.5%. The tax on a $25,000 car will be $2,625.
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Putting aside the fact that you live nowhere near Oregon, the rules sound exactly as they should be. If a Massachusetts resident buys a car in NH, they have to register it in Mass, and pay Mass sales tax. They can't register it in NH and avoid sales tax, because they don't live in NH. And they can't just slap on the Mass plates on an unregistered car.

But get this. When we were living in NH, we bought a Toyota Tacoma from a Mass dealer. Of course we didn't have to pay sales tax, because we registered it in NH, where we lived. But a couple of years later, we sold the NH home and moved into a rental in Mass, while we planned and built our house in Maine. We had to get Mass driver's licenses, and register our cars in Mass. The registry had a way of looking-up where we bought the car from, and when they saw it came from a Massachusetts dealership, they back-charged us the sales tax. Nice, eh?
 
I can understand – although I don't like it – having to paying state sales tax on a car purchased out-of-state. But in your situation, Mister scotch, you should not have been charged sales tax on a car purchased two years earlier. Did you challenge the charge? Or did you just figure, as the saying goes, you can't fight city hall.
 
Channel98 said:
I can understand – although I don't like it – having to paying state sales tax on a car purchased out-of-state. But in your situation, Mister scotch, you should not have been charged sales tax on a car purchased two years earlier. Did you challenge the charge? Or did you just figure, as the saying goes, you can't fight city hall.
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Oh it's all in writing. I believe we were 1.5 years into a 2 year look-back window. They have to have laws to prevent people from either buying a car right before a planned move to Mass, or temporarily registering in NH just to buy the vehicle. We didn't challenge it, because it had already taken us 10 attempts to get valid Mass registrations, and we had a daughter who qualified for Mass in-state tuition only if we had gotten all our paperwork transitioned over.
 
scotchandcigar said:
Putting aside the fact that you live nowhere near Oregon, the rules sound exactly as they should be. If a Massachusetts resident buys a car in NH, they have to register it in Mass, and pay Mass sales tax. They can't register it in NH and avoid sales tax, because they don't live in NH. And they can't just slap on the Mass plates on an unregistered car.

But get this. When we were living in NH, we bought a Toyota Tacoma from a Mass dealer. Of course we didn't have to pay sales tax, because we registered it in NH, where we lived. But a couple of years later, we sold the NH home and moved into a rental in Mass, while we planned and built our house in Maine. We had to get Mass driver's licenses, and register our cars in Mass. The registry had a way of looking-up where we bought the car from, and when they saw it came from a Massachusetts dealership, they back-charged us the sales tax. Nice, eh?
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I call Bullshit! (On the Massholes.)
 
HecticArt said:
I call Bullshit! (On the Massholes.)
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You don't even know the half of it. When you walk into the DMV to register a car in Massachusetts, you need to provide a certified RTA form. The RTA is a title application form, provided by your insurance company.

You have to physically speak to a live insurance person in order to have them generate the form. They need all the info about your car that would be on your registration, plus they need your finance info from the bank or lease company. Then they must fax the form directly to the DMV; you can't do it yourself.

Every time I tried to have this done, there was either a typo on the form, they didn't have the correct contact info for the DMV, or no one at the DMV available to check on the status of receiving it.

Once the DMV has received the correctly generated RTA, they need the original title for your car (not a copy). And you need to have gotten your Mass driver's license. Mrs. Scotch had to pay over $1,000 in back fines for unpaid excise tax from the 80s, in order to get her license. Fun stuff.
 
When you buy a new car up there, is the dealership able to take care of all of that for you while you're there with them? Or do you still have to wind up at the DMV?

I had never bought a car from a dealership before and it was so pleasant that they were able to just take my old license plate, put it on the new car, give me a copy of the title and the registration and everything it took like 3 minutes. I even changed my insurance to more expensive insurance while I was there cuz Sally and Paul told me to.
 
Forty-two states have a Department of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts has a Registry of Motor Vehicles. Ohio and Indiana have a Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and Iowa have a Motor Vehicle Division. Hawai'i has no state DMV; licensing and registration are handled by local governments. This explains what the Massachusetts RAT is. Oh wait, that should be RTA, not RAT. No, wait, maybe I had it right the first time.


 
JHDK said:
When you buy a new car up there, is the dealership able to take care of all of that for you while you're there with them? Or do you still have to wind up at the DMV?

I had never bought a car from a dealership before and it was so pleasant that they were able to just take my old license plate, put it on the new car, give me a copy of the title and the registration and everything it took like 3 minutes. I even changed my insurance to more expensive insurance while I was there cuz Sally and Paul told me to.
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In New Hampshire and Maine, all that can be done right at the dealership. In Mass, I believe you can get a temp reg at the dealer, but you have to go to the DMV/RMV within 30 days.
 
JHDK said:
When you buy a new car up there, is the dealership able to take care of all of that for you while you're there with them? Or do you still have to wind up at the DMV?

I had never bought a car from a dealership before and it was so pleasant that they were able to just take my old license plate, put it on the new car, give me a copy of the title and the registration and everything it took like 3 minutes. I even changed my insurance to more expensive insurance while I was there cuz Sally and Paul told me to.
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Here in Ontario, the dealer takes care of the plate. It is a fee on the bill of sale of course. He will get plates for you as well for a slightly higher fee. You need to handle the insurance. Last time the insurance company mailed me a proof of insurance and I had to show that to the car dealership to take possession. I think that is a legal requirement.
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
Last time the insurance company mailed me a proof of insurance and I had to show that to the car dealership to take possession. I think that is a legal requirement.
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Okay that's interesting because it worked somewhat differently for me. They didn't make me show any sort of proof of insurance at the Hyundai dealership. And also how long ago was your "last time" cuz you said you had to get it mailed to you, did you mean emailed? Because the minute I changed my insurance while I was sitting there in the showroom I just logged into the progressive app and it showed I had the better coverage like a second after I got off the phone with the woman.
 
JHDK said:
Okay that's interesting because it worked somewhat differently for me. They didn't make me show any sort of proof of insurance at the Hyundai dealership. And also how long ago was your "last time" cuz you said you had to get it mailed to you, did you mean emailed? Because the minute I changed my insurance while I was sitting there in the showroom I just logged into the progressive app and it showed I had the better coverage like a second after I got off the phone with the woman.
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emailed I think. It may have even been faxed to the dealer. I just know the dealer had to have it in his hands. In Ontario, it is illegal to drive here without liability insurance. You are free not to insure your own vehicle.
 
On the weekend that everything was about to shut-down because of Covid, we were killing time by walking around car dealerships. We needed to trade-in the Tacoma pick-up for a more dog-and-passenger-friendly vehicle. We made it to exactly 1 dealership. They hooked us up with a new Outback, and took the Tacoma on trade, all in about 2 hours. All the insurance and registration work was done by phone, fax, or email; on the spot. That's because it was Maine/NH.
 
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