Opinion Talk

By rwh

April 16, 2006 07:00 PM | Link to this

From a automobile owner..I would say yes! Georgia cars are high and people don’t know how to shop for one. It is the ad valorem (personal property) taxes that weigh in a lot to the yearly sales. If you don’t pay it, you don’t drive. What is more wrong with this tax is…it appear that it punish you for having a vehicle to drive on America’s roadway. ad valorem can be replace with an more affordable tax because state, federal taxes are always added and the dealer’s delivery fees as well. How much can you charge a customer with?

By candide

April 16, 2006 07:57 PM | Link to this

Tax poorly maintained cars that spew filth more than well maintained cars.
No other state has so many filthy polluting vehicles like Georgia. I guess that corresponds to our population of white and black trash.

By Mike

April 16, 2006 08:10 PM | Link to this

YES. How many times and in how many different ways am I going to get screwed into paying a tax for the same thing???? Sales tax is enough ad valorem is about as socialist as it gets.

By Tom

April 16, 2006 08:51 PM | Link to this

Please eliminate the Ad Valorem Tax on vehicles! This April, all my income tax refund went to pay the Ad Valorem tax on my two cars and two motorcycles. The cars mostly sit because the price of gas is so high, I ride the motocycles most places I need to go - they get double the gas milage of the cars. However, the Ad Valorem on them, is as much as the cars. When I lived in Ohio years ago, it was $35 per vehicle - would have been $140 for me this year. Instead, my Ad Valorem was almost $1000, money I could have used for insurance, vehicle maintenance, or GAS!

By KB

April 16, 2006 09:21 PM | Link to this

Lower your ad valorem taxes and your car insurance by buying used cars and keeping them 10 years. The older the car the lower the taxes and the insurance. It works for our family. We have 3 kids in college, and are paying taxes and insurance on 5 vehicles. We have no car loans, paid off our house in 15 years and we pay off our credit cards each month. Live within your means and you will be happier.

By Vermin8

April 17, 2006 08:06 AM | Link to this

What do the taxes collected pay for? Theoretically, they should pay for local roads, construction and upkeep. In that case, I say NO don’t eliminate them. It’s more likely that they are thrown into a big financial pot, but as long as the state must fund new highways, car owners should pay. I don’t think it’s fair to shift the burden to income tax, which means someone living downtown, who pays more in rent and/or property taxes (and renters DO pay this - they simply do so through their landlord) will also have to foot the bill for roads they don’t use.

By Vermin8

April 17, 2006 08:06 AM | Link to this

What do the taxes collected pay for? Theoretically, they should pay for local roads, construction and upkeep. In that case, I say NO don’t eliminate them. It’s more likely that they are thrown into a big financial pot, but as long as the state must fund new highways, car owners should pay. I don’t think it’s fair to shift the burden to income tax, which means someone living downtown, who pays more in rent and/or property taxes (and renters DO pay this - they simply do so through their landlord) will also have to foot the bill for roads they don’t use.

By Lance

April 17, 2006 08:29 AM | Link to this

We are already taxed 6 ways to Sunday. Are the taxes collected by the state from sales tax, income tax, Gasoline, property tax, taxes on your dog, etc, not enough? Where do we draw the line between necessary taxes for needed services, and taxes that only fatten the pockets of government? As a whole, when you combine all of the income taxes collected, the government takes 40% of all income earned in the united states, and that is only what you see taken from your check every week. This does not include the Ad Valorem on Autos, the $.43 per gallon tax on gas in Georgia, property taxes, sales taxes, or the embedded taxes in every product you buy. Also considering the fact that about 45% of the country pays very little or no income taxes at all, you can see the enormous burden we have placed on the achievers in our society.

So to answer this question quickly, the answer is yes. Not only do we need to get rid of the Auto Mobile tax, but we need to get rid of many other taxes. The solution is in the hands of the people, and we must demand fiscal responsibility from our government. We don’t need more taxes, we just need better management of the money we already provide. Government entitlement programs are on the verge of completely breaking our backs, and at the current rate of expenditure, will break our backs very soon. $1.69 trillion in income redistribution is an overzealous Robin Hood.

By Vermin8

April 17, 2006 08:56 AM | Link to this

Why don’t we eliminate income tax and keep taxes for which there is a correlation between use and taxes paid?

By Paul

April 17, 2006 09:06 AM | Link to this

For forty years I have paying Ad Valorem Tax on two autos, and this excessive tax needs to be repealed like the other ad valorem taxes Georgia used to collect.

By Annette

April 17, 2006 09:11 AM | Link to this

Please do away with the car tag tax!! You were correct in your article. I love having birthdays! It sure beats the alternative. But getting that notice in the mail about car tags sure puts a damper on a birthday!

By E. Lewis

April 17, 2006 09:18 AM | Link to this

It would be a good idea, but where is the revenue loss going to be made up?

Does it matter so much where the taxes come from as long as they are paid out of our pockets?

I don’t trust anyone who wants to score easy popularity/political points by cutting taxes without first telling me where they are going to make up the difference.

By robert

April 17, 2006 09:50 AM | Link to this

By all means end the tax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Roger

April 17, 2006 09:52 AM | Link to this

Yes, the tax on motor vehicles should be eliminated. We pay gasoline taxes to pay for road construction and maintenance along with SPLOST funds. Government never has enough and always want more. This tax is regressive and hurts the ones that can least afford it the most. With the higher gasoline taxes, sales taxes should be used to replace the ad volerum taxes on motor vehicles. The only way to have reduced government interference in our lives is to starve them out of it and this is as good a place as any to start.

By murph

April 17, 2006 09:56 AM | Link to this

ending this tax is way overdue. any surplus is our (we Taxpayers ) money. The state needs to give it back, not find pork barrel projects to waste it on. People who worry about “replacing” taxes seem to forget that its OUR money in the first place. YES to repealing the advalorum tax.

By Malcolm Neal

April 17, 2006 10:02 AM | Link to this

Ad Valorem tax has always been a sore point for me since moving to Georgia a few years ago. It seem so unfair and counterproductive. It almost says “don’t buy anything else unless you want to pay even more tax”. Why should anyone pay a yearly tax on something they have paid for and paid taxes on in the first place? I have a small business and it really make me mad when each year I have to pay this tax on a table or chair I have purchased, even years before. The car tax is the ultimate insult to a resident of this state. Cut it out!

By candide

April 17, 2006 10:05 AM | Link to this

It’s like asking, should we forgo dessert at Sunda dinner.

By Malcolm Neal

April 17, 2006 10:06 AM | Link to this

This tax is a very sor point for me since moving to GA a few years ago. Why pay an annual tax on something you have already purchased and paid taxes on? Its almost counterproductive as why should people buy something new knowing they’ll have to paid these taxes. I have a small business and every year have to pay this tax on each table and chair even though they may be several years old. How silly can you get. The ad valorum tax on cars should be eliminated as we pay enough in taxes now to own an auto.

By Susie

April 17, 2006 11:39 AM | Link to this

rwh, “how much can they charge you with?”

The first and LAST car I bought in Fulton County (at Nalley Honda on then-Stewart Avenue)included a MARTA tax.

By Dave

April 17, 2006 11:57 AM | Link to this

Come on folks, how can our state legislators, who only have forty days to work with, make a major decision like this when they have to decide what variety of state pickle to choose?

By Nel

April 17, 2006 11:59 AM | Link to this

The tax needs to go. You get penalized for owning a well-constructed car that retains it’s value. Why Georgia charges more for a car than say, New York does for a luxury vehicle is beyond me. If it’s supposed to be for maininting and building roads then someone is getting “paid” because traffic gets worse with every passing year.

By pat

April 17, 2006 12:05 PM | Link to this

Yup, it’s gotta go.

By Jason

April 17, 2006 01:09 PM | Link to this

The tax should be higher but instead of being based on the value of the car, it should be based on miles driven. Georgia has the lowest gas tax in the country and one of the highest per capita road building budgets. Gas taxes and the current tag tax don’t come close to covering the cost of building and maintaining our roads. So everyone gets taxed through property and sales taxes for roads no matter how little or how much they drive. There is a name for this: Socialism! Socialism doesn’t work and that can be seen with our horrible traffic. Make the roads pay for themselves. If the tag tax is removed, we won’t need any less roads, we’ll just end up paying for them through a different tax that charges everyone regardless of how much they drive.

By Edmund G. Kotkiewicz

April 17, 2006 01:18 PM | Link to this

I do think the ad valorem tax should be eliminated it puts an additional burden on senior citizens. I have a newer truck and an 8 yr old motorcycle and a 14 year old boat trailer that I pay this tax on and I dread when ever my birthday comes around because I have to budget for these extra taxes that are not necessary. We already pay a good amount of taxes when we buy a vehicle and I don’t feel we should have to keep paying tax upon tax.I would be very happy to see the ad valorem go away.

By Irwin

April 17, 2006 03:20 PM | Link to this

Keep the tax. Stick it to Whitey and all them uppity BMW, Hummer, and Benz driving mofos.

I like it.

You are all a bunch of whiny brats - just like the children you “raised.” Deal with it or get the heck out.

By Marie

April 17, 2006 04:46 PM | Link to this

Whenever you hear of tax cuts for inidividuals whether you are talking about local, state, federal; government officials always worry how they are going to make up the shortfall before they give YOU BACK YOUR MONEY.

However, when they pass any NEW taxes they never seem to worry about how the individual or the family will pay for medicine, food, school supplies for their children, fund their retirement, purchase clothing, give to charities, etc., etc., etc.

For once just GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY and let the local official worry how they will make up the shortfall. They can start by eliminating any unncessary spending (funding for the arts, building recreation centers, reduce the size of bloated city/county commissions, etc) to help offset the reduction of these funds.

But for Pete’s sake STOP TAXING US TO DEATH. We need that money too.

By Marie

April 17, 2006 04:46 PM | Link to this

Whenever you hear of tax cuts for inidividuals whether you are talking about local, state, federal; government officials always worry how they are going to make up the shortfall before they give YOU BACK YOUR MONEY.

However, when they pass any NEW taxes they never seem to worry about how the individual or the family will pay for medicine, food, school supplies for their children, fund their retirement, purchase clothing, give to charities, etc., etc., etc.

For once just GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY and let the local official worry how they will make up the shortfall. They can start by eliminating any unncessary spending (funding for the arts, building recreation centers, reduce the size of bloated city/county commissions, etc) to help offset the reduction of these funds.

But for Pete’s sake STOP TAXING US TO DEATH. We need that money too.

By Tar Heel Bred bleeds Tar Heel Blue

April 17, 2006 06:49 PM | Link to this

“Should Georgia eliminate the ad valorem tax on vehicles?”

Like…Yeah! Nothing worse than being greeted with the reality of having to pay taxes on your birthday and on top of that paying all of this tax to a state government (Georgia) that offers little, if any, protections for consumers at the time and just after the car is being purchased. As opposed to a state like say…North Carolina, which has some of the best auto consumer protection laws in the country.

If I’m not going to get any protection as a consumer on a potentially defective product or vehicle (especially used), then why should I be forced to pay for that lack of consumer protection?

By David

April 18, 2006 04:25 AM | Link to this

Don’t eliminate the ad valorem tax on cars but allow a blanket credit of a given amount thereby eliminating the tax on older or less expensive vehicles.

By Emily

April 18, 2006 11:44 AM | Link to this

This is a “no brainer”. We are taxed to death already and paying sales tax on a vehicle should be gracious plenty. Then we could really celebrate our birthdays instead of dreading paying to own our necessary modes of transportation!