On Taxes

Written by Michael on June 1st, 2007

I’ve always considered my obligation to pay taxes as rent for living in the best country of the world.  I don’t love taxes, but if they improve the roads I drive on, provide social services for those in need and keep me and my family safe, they they’re worth it.  But today I’m pissed.money

In Colorado, vehicle owners are required to pay an annual excise tax based on the assessed value of the car or truck.  These funds go directly to road maintenance and infrastructure improvements.  Ok, no problem.  But in the 45 days, I’ve had my new Outlook, my SUV has appreciated almost $3,500!  Awesome!  I’m going to forget stocks and mutual funds and invest in Saturn Outlooks.  Boo Ya to you Jim Cramer, this is the investment of a lifetime!  The original purchase price of the vehicle was $42,180 before any discounts and trades.  The Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles assessed it at $45,550, a return that Warren Buffet would be proud of.  I shudder to think about what the state will value my car next year and at this rate of appreciation, I should just leave it in my garage and see if I can get a Car Equity Loan from my bank to purchase a cheaper car that would just depreciate in value.

I did call the DMV and was told that the valuation was correct, it’s just the dealer sold it to me for less than it was worth (riiiiight) and that I really do owe the amount on the postcard.

In related news, large cap stock OUTL is up 52.5 cents to $45,550.52 on the NYSE with record volume of 550 million vehicles traded.  I hope the Shorts have covered all of their positions…

.outl

1 Comments so far ↓

  1. Jun
    6
    9:09
    AM
    Hilary

    Yeah, I had to pay about $400 on my car when I moved down here. What sucks is that I paid for two years of tags on my Ohio plates a year before moving here, so I lost that $35. Most states seem to have an offset – Washington used to have really high plate fees, but no income tax. SC seems to have them all: sales tax (including on food), property tax, car tax, income tax… And this state is run by Republicans and has a Libertarian governor!

Spruce up your comments with
<a href="" title=""><abbr title=""><acronym title=""><b><blockquote cite=""><cite><code><del datetime=""><em><i><q cite=""><strike><strong>
New comments are moderated before being shown * = required field

Leave a Comment





  • Blogroll
  • Cycling Links
  • Pages
  • Tags
  • Spam Blocked