Mr. Stamford
The Authoritative Blog on Stamford Connecticut
Thanks Connecticut, I Love You Too
Author: Mr. Stamford13 Aug
Continuing with the uplifting theme of things I hate, I just paid my Connecticut car (property) tax.
Each year it comes it only serves to expedite my search for a way out of this area. It’s like getting a letter directly from the governor saying, “Hey, time to fork over hundreds of dollars that my office can quickly spend on pork projects. Thanks for living here.” Why can’t the state just slightly increase our income taxes and absorb this annoying fee. It would be a little easier to swallow and less paper work if it were included in our yearly state returns. Another idea is to just roll it into our real estate taxes (since I think a lot of the car tax goes to the city you live in?). This is just one of those taxes that were introduced years ago that will now be impossible to ever appeal.
Can some of these funds at least go to pay for improved service at the DMV? Every visit to the CT DMV has always been a complete and utter nightmare. Where do they find these people who work there? I don’t even want to know how much they are paid and what crazy pensions and benefits they must receive from the state. I receive better service at Burger King.
At least the state has stayed away from adding toll roads. Driving to NJ easily costs $20 now between all of the tolls and bridges.
Categories
Recent Comments
- anon: Five units have already closed.
- Yoann: Well, no much activties so
- Steve Daniels: I've been looking at Palmer
- aaaanon: You have got to be
- jjbradleynyc: Wow--this is a GREAT blog.
- Dplaz1: The house is/was owned by
- anon: I'll be sure to check
- anon: Antares changed ownership? heard it
- anon: I think they call it
- LVTfan: #5 -- I'm not so
Links
- City of Stamford
- Stamford Advocate
- Stamford Chamber of Commerce
- Stamford Guide
- Stamford Historical Society
- Stamford Talk
- Stamford Wikipedia Page
- Blog Stamford
- Station Stops
- Trainjotting
- Mayor Dan Malloy
- Joey K’s Place
- Stamford History Blog
Archives
- October 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
3 Responses for "Thanks Connecticut, I Love You Too"
I haven’t lived in CT for very long, so is it true that this tax was supposed to replace another one that (not shockingly) was never repealed?
I’m of several minds about taxing cars. It seems to me that if we are going to tax them, we should be taxing them according to the damage they do to the roads and to the air, and so the tax should be a function of their weight and their fuel usage (and also, I suppose, in proportion to the number of miles driven). As things stand now, the next Grand List will probably devalue huge SUVs and upvalue Priuses, due to their fuel costs. This is perverse.
But I know there are many cars garaged in Stamford which are not registered in Connecticut; most of them belong to people with vacation homes in other states, and the owners avoid both the local property tax on cars and the higher insurance costs associated with driving in a congested area — and they are the same people who may drive great distances every week to get to those vacation homes, so they shift their insurance costs onto those who only drive locally, since most auto insurance contracts don’t account for “personal” miles driven!
I would prefer that we not tax vehicles, buildings or personal property (that is, business inventory and equipment — go figure!) of any kind. It seems to me that all those things are the result of one’s labor and commerce, and shouldn’t be taxed. I’d like to see us put our taxation squarely onto land value. Those who own large amounts of valuable land would pay heavily; those who occupy only a postage stamp lot in an off-the-beaten-track location with few services would only pay a small amount — all in proportion to how the market values each site, without regard to what sort of building is on it.
Seems to me that would be far more just, far simpler, far easier to administer and more transparent — not to mention aligning our incentives with smart policy!
I think they call it here in CT a “sales and use tax”…the “use” speaks for itself.
Leave a reply