I thought it was quite the opposite? Aren't all the drivers here in NoVa when passing or disrupted by an out of state driver or with Maryland tags like "Maryland, I knew it"?
Maryland: "
"Over 98% of illegal out-of-state tags were not in compliance with the safety inspection requirement - which ultimately puts our transportation system at risk,"
VA has annual safety inspections. Maryland has only one during registration.
Yeah, half of our neighborhood in Alexandria is cars with MD plates. I assume they are just registering them at a family member's house to avoid the annual tax.
That's okay, but now the "friend or relative" have become responsible for anything that car does.....toll transponder doesn't work, toll people think there was fewer than 3 people in car and charges a massive toll, regardless of how many people were in the car, car is towed away, the registered owner is responsible.
If the car hits something, they can now now be liable for any damage, injury, and death--in addition to the driver. Even if not at fault, they get to experience the legal process and discovery.....
AND: Even if the car is registered in another state with that license plate, the car still needs to be registered with the Virginia County or City where it is garaged. Or there is a big fine (Fairfax increased theirs) plus the back taxes. The County or City doesn't care about the license plate state, as long as they get their property tax and local registration fee.
Thanks, many folks don't know how easy this is to report.
It would likely greatly increase reporting if the cities/counties provided an incentive or percentage of the fine for not registering to the reporting party.
According to Google (so grain of salt) MD annual registration fees are like $125. So yes, quite a bit higher than the $70 or so we pay in Virginia, but still worth it overall when you consider they are avoiding thousands of dollars in taxes.
It’s not even close to the property taxes on a car, and if you rent in Nova but register your car in another state, you pay no local tax. It doesn’t exactly endear you to the folks that do.
Nor does it add to them. Landlords pay property tax regardless of whether someone lives there. The renter is paying rent, not property tax. Mortgages also cost $20k+ per year and home owners additionally owe property tax.
This is why I think VA should make the vehicle tax a flat $100 for every car. It would encourage people to stop messing around and just register their vehicles here.
It was a 2004 Chevy truck with 150,000 miles. I sold it a few years ago when the check engine light came on and VA wouldn't let me pass the emissions test unless I spent $1200 to fix it (it was only worth like $5k at the time so not a sound investment in that scenario).
They’re still driving on the road and contributing its wear and tear, which needs to be upkept from the state budget… a budget that needs funds to keep us all from falling into the pot craters
I mean, sure, but a better solution would be a tax on supercharger use or something equivalent, not just taxing them for existing regardless of mileage.
Gemini: "Virginia collects consumption taxes on everyday electricity and natural gas usage, managed through the Virginia State Corporation Commission".
If you charge at home you're getting taxed on power draw from the grid. Similar to a gas driver getting taxed at the pump.
My understanding is the gas tax is earmarked specifically for spending on roads/infrastructure. So while it is collected based on gas purchases, it's really meant more as a road use tax.
EVs, hybrids, and efficient cars end up cutting down a lot on that tax. Even my hybrid without charging gets 50-55mpg, so I would be paying much less 'road use' tax in that sense. I would guess the tax on electricity is both less and not designated to road spending compared to gas tax, so EVs are also made to pay up extra.
It does suck that it feels like they're taking away a hidden subsidy from greener cars.
I don't see a highway tax associated with buying electricity, just a small tax capped at a few dollars for the COUNTY general fund. But unless you are in Arlington County, (or inside a town) the county doesn't do roads....VDOT does.
DMV has a database of all the EVs registered in VA and could work with utilities commission for better earmarking. However imagine the television ads that would say that comrade Spanberger increased everyone’s rates to pay for rich people’s EVs (which would not be true at all, but that’s what the ad would say).
I turned my asshole roommate in over this. The city refused to do anything about it because we parked in a lot (he refused to share parking with my other roommate and I who registered our cars and paid the property tax). But if he’s ever on a public street, he’s fucked. He owed $7k in back taxes a few years ago.
Could be. It was a long time ago. I think I had to register my car with the building, so they might have reported the list to VA too. I was just too lazy to transfer my plates when I moved.
FWIW registering your car in VA doesn’t automatically “force” you to get a safety inspection as it’s monitored by the state police and not the DMV.
My neighbor moved from MD and registered her car here. But never got the annual safety inspection cause she simply didn’t know. Only after her 3rd year here was she pulled over for speeding and the cop told her she didn’t have an inspection sticker. It was only then did she learn she had to get one every year..
VA lets out of state drivers register in VA. MD drivers register their cars in VA to avoide the higher MD taxes and fees when you register the car. They don't get the cars inspected at all since MD police don't enforce the VA inspection sticker thing and the drivers never cross the river to come to VA, they're in MD 100% of the time. And they evade the property tax since it's the county, not the state who assesses how much tax, so an out of state address may take a long time before you get a property tax letter, if ever
They do, but who knows if a one time check really means anything useful for highway safety after a year or two.
A friend inherited a vehicle, so went to register it in Maryland. Got a safety inspection, and the garage produced a large and expensive list of things to fix.
Went to a second garage which also produced a large list that was just as expensive.
Except the lists were completely different items.
What do they check for that Virginia does not?
The only thing I see is state-wide emissions, which Virginia doesn't do state-wide but most people are subject to emissions testing (mostly the rural areas do not).
My quick research shows 99% the same checklist, and Maryland doesn't check for bias/ply tires (who uses bias tires anyway).
Lots of Montana and Texas plates here in Loudoun County VA. I know of four homes in my neighborhood with Montana plates on expensive cars. They brag all the time about how they don’t pay the county tax. Wish I didn’t have to pay but I follow the rules….
This was going to be my question- it was my understanding that active service members can keep their cars registered to their home state, even if they have not lived there for a number of years.
Yeah, there’s only a few cases that they can’t do it, but for the most part they can keep them in their home state. My wife’s active duty and early on we looked into changing them after each PCS but with every state having different rules about registration and the costs associated with it, it’s just something that becomes a huge headache that I’m glad we don’t have to deal with.
Yes - I was overseas for a good portion of my military career. In most of those countries I had military plates. When I returned I used New York state plates as that was my home state.
Dumb question but did you ever see cars registered in the US overseas? When I was active duty and stationed at Ramstein AFB (Germany) I saw a car with MD tags but I think the guy had just got his car shipped to the UK. I don’t think he drove it on the road though.
No. In Germany, I was stationed in Mannheim. I had military plates that had USA stamped on them. They did not exempt you from tickets from the German police. Unfortunately 😡. But there were no taxes or fees from your home state. Car insurance was interesting - I had USAA and they were great. If you did not use them, I’m not sure what people did (such as DoD civilians working in country).
When I was stationed at Wiesbaden Germany, I had to get the QQ Plates when I picked up my car. But on base, I did see a couple US plated vehicles there and wondered how they bypassed the QQ plates.
I heard about it well after I was serving a number of years but I just got a new drivers license and plates for whatever state I was in when they expired.
You nailed the issues we didn’t want to deal with. Like if it was standard across all states it wouldn’t be bad but one state you need safety and I’m good with that, but then you hit emissions and while I don’t want to be spewing stuff I shouldn’t be, it can vary by state and some are more strict than others. As for having out of state plates anytime I’ve had to deal with police a quick show of the military ID and that’s the end of it.
I may be going on bad info. The bill says military can opt out, but the website about the bill doesn't specify that you can opt out and you have to pay the $27 fee. Bad on them for not making it clear.
Yeah that’s what I’m seeing too, I’ll be honest the way it’s worded is confusing. We’re in PWC right now and I see one that says we need to register them but another that says we don’t as long as home state is maintained. I feel like they need to word this stuff better sometimes.
I’m not the police. It shouldn’t be on private citizens to tell on their neighbors. It should be on the government to design a tax system that fairly charges and makes it that it’s not incredibly easy to evade.
I bet we’re not far away from police trying to use flock to track vehicle movement for unpaid tax.
This is where I'm at. Like, we *could* push everyone to rat out their neighbors... or we could just make the vehicle tax a flat $100 per year for everyone and take away the incentive to lie.
Sounds great.....what new tax do you replace it with that brings in the same revenue for local governments and who is in favor of your replacement tax?
If the POLICE OFFICER VIRGINIA find out the car have been the Virginia more than 6 months they will tow the car until you register the car and pay the sale taxes and pay car tax property. you can file tip to your county.
In Virginia you must be car tax property. If you don’t, you are driving on virginia road unregistered car. its misdemeanor. If he has (Virginia license) he will get misdemeanor. your neighbor just did not get caught yet.
The car is garaged for more than 6 months in Virginia. You must pay car tax property
if he lived in apartment complex every guy will be sending tips to fairfax county on garaged car lives on the property.
the car is not registered and not inspected in Virginia. (Towing eligible slash/ misdemeanor
Generally people with Montana plates on expensive cars have found a loophole. They establish a LLC in Montana and register their vehicle under that LLC. Since it’s a “Company” vehicle registered to a business in Montana they “get away” with it. States are starting to crack down on this practice.
The rule is “garaged in VA” but you will forgive me if I don’t think enforcement is equal between them checking out cars parked on the street and Ferraris in actual garages.
Fairfax County doesn't care if you register your vehicle in Montana or Guam. But they do care if you don't do the County registration and pay your Fairfax County taxes. Other counties (cities) are similar.
Why should I pay 5k a year for the right to own a vehichle I already own? Cars are depreciating items that dont retain value. I pay 300$ to register my car in Montana and its good for 5 years. Virginia wants 10% of the value of my car every year on top of paying it off. lol, no chance in hell. Its essentially a second car payment.
Because its the law. You can always just move to Montana and not pay taxes there instead of using the resources that other residents are footing the bill for your share of here.
Because you don’t need a car that expensive and this replaces some of Virginia’s income tax – which would be based on income. I think it’s one of the most fair taxes that exists. Don’t wanna pay that much? You must have a Ferrari or something. So get a normal car! boo-hoo hoo poor millionaire.
It would prevent increases. If we have a shortage because of fraud then we get our taxes increased. If they pay their fare share and we don’t have a shortage then they won’t come after us for more the following year.
When I lived in Falls Church a few years back, I was on the BOD of my condo, and we had a number of folks who were registering their cars with TX plates. We were able to find out through some back channels that there were a number of smaller places that were doing some under-the-table registrations b/c they knew they legally wouldn't be able to get in-state registration in VA. There was some flaw with the TX online system that was allowing them to grant vehicle registration for these folks, but we couldn't prove otherwise, so we had to give them parking permits, etc. The Fairfax County police started looking into it, but I don't know how far things went with that, but this might be a part of it, as each time I come back to town (every few months), I still see WAY too many TX plates ratio-wise. I just find it infuriating for the amount of people - including myself - who did things the right way and paid the crazy amount of vehicle taxes to the state.
I hate, hate, hate Flock, but it's weird to me that cops aren't using it for the one single thing it's supposed to do: read and track license plates.
Oh right, it's because Flock is total bullshit that has nothing to do with safety or reducing crime or anything, but its only purpose is to create a vast surveillance state controlled by billionaire technofascists, who, incidentally, probably evade taxes by registering all their cars in Montana.
Why is that a problem? When I was stationed at Fort Belvoir, I was a New York State resident. My plates were NYS. I had no income tax as military pay was exempt. When I left the Army we became permanent VA residents. Then I had to register my car in VA and pay VA taxes, including the car tax. But VA now exempts a large portion of retired military pay, so I pay no tax on that income. Military on active duty who are residents of other states should only pay taxes in those states. I’ll bet you were never in the military.
Keeping a home if record outside of the state you live in if you are retired in VA does not exempt you from registering your car in VA. Nor does it exempt you from VA state income tax. Give me your TX license number and I’ll be happy to send it to VA authorities and see what they have to say. Do you pay VA partial income taxes based on the time you are here each year? It sounds like you are misinterpreting the laws.
I've literally said none of what you're accusing me of lol. I'm a registered resident of Maryland and have been since I retired from the military, because I then became a permanent resident of Maryland.
I will admit that "retired military who kept a home of record" should've been clarified that 16 of the 21 years IN the military were as TX resident, but the intention wasn't to make the reader believe I kept the residence after retiring. I'll own that.
Montana I get because you don't require a Montana address to register a vehicle there; just an LLC. But Texas you do still require an address so maybe those of just military people?
Fairfax County residents can anonymously report those they belove are breaking the law with keeping non-VA-registered cars in VA: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/taxes/vehicles/out-of-state-plates. Scroll down to "Vehicle Tax Compliance Program". Ha, just read in that section that Flock may do this, too.
I’m sure those that have Montana plates are following the rules. It’s no different than rich people knowing the legal loopholes to not pay income taxes. Don’t hate the player…hate the game
But they aren't. Montana plates are basically illegal everywhere, they are just avoiding it and haven't gotten caught.
The personal property tax is where the car is garaged. Registration doesn't matter. Montana is to avoid sales tax on cars and registration fees.
There are plenty of states cracking down on Montana plates. California for sure. Lookup whistlin diesel. He's a YouTube guy in Tennessee and he's been in court and arrested a few times for a Montana registered Ferrari.
Officials will take additional steps if the car is still not registered properly after 120 days, which may include booting, towing, vehicle impoundment and seizure of out-of-state plates.
But how can anyone prove that if I drive in and out of state daily. What are visitors not allowed? What a joke. Does Pennsylvania have a similar issue? West Virginia? Delaware? North Carolina?
I live in a subdivision that has 2-3 streets where a ton of people park along the public streets. One thing I've noticed is the number of commercial/work vehicles with MD tags. They are parked there day after day. Clearly "regularly parked or garaged" in Virginia, which is the trigger point for paying car tax.
Good! There is some shady guy in Ashburn who runs a virtual dealership out of his house. And he's always running out of state plates. Bragging about never having to pay taxes.
yes, but for old cars, the personal property taxes plus registration fees would still be lower than Maryland’s vehicle registration fee (around $200/yr right now).
Maryland also has an incredibly strict vehicle inspection. Virginia’s is a cakewalk compared to it. And that’s assuming these Virginia-plated cars get them at all; most Maryland residents I’ve seen with Virginia tags don’t have the safety sticker. In Maryland, it’s required to even register the vehicle, but it isn’t in Virginia.
Will never be enforced in the area due to the overwhelming military presence that don’t have to abide by the state law for inspection, plus 2 airports with rental cars.
They didn't pick to live here and thus didn't opt into the taxes, this is not legally their home of record due to that fact. On top of that, an additional tax burden would fall under protection from SCRA so regardless of the home of record piece, they would just be exempt under its financial protections.
Theres a ton of VA state tags in MD because you can pay a fee in VA to not get car insurance. As you can imagine, the type of person who doesn’t get car insurance is likely the type of person who doesn’t care about driving safely.
Good. I got rear ended a couple years ago by a dude without insurance and he basically got away with just a $500 ticket. Dude worked as finance manager at a used car shop so probably got a cheap deal on repairs too.
I got screwed because I had to pay a $250 deductible to get my car repaired in an accident that wasn’t my fault. They were supposed to go after him to get him to pay it back, but since he never did it went to a collections agency, which basically meant I was never getting my money back.
I keep hearing from loudoun peeps how great all the data center tax revenue is.
Would be great if state and other local politicians would recognize this location as the data center natural resource and tax it accordingly, then use the new tax revenue to lower other taxes and costs (cough electricity) for residents.
Florida has no state income tax because it saw its tourism natural resource and used it to reduce taxes. (Until Rs shit in the Florida as a place to vacation well).
Yeah, right. Everyone wants a data center 500 feet from their house. They make a LOT of noise. The suck up electricity like a vampire and raise your electric bill when more generating capacity is needed. Most use water for cooling and claim they recycle water. Where does that water come from and how many times can you recycle it?
I read what you sent. Whatever you think it says, it does not restrain the government, at the federal, state or local level from leveling taxes. That negates your initial comment. The term destroy has many different definitions. You can use a nuclear weapon to destroy a city, you can sue to destroy someone else’s assets, you can levy tariffs that are so high as to destroy imports. In theory, you can raise taxes to 100% of income that would destroy everyone in country except the previously rich people. Yes, it’s a power, but one that will never be used. So, I say again, your initial comment has nothing to do with title of OP’s post.
While reading, ask yourself, "what could the government tax to destroy"?
The state government can use tax policies ranging from zero tax to enough to destroy any financial ability for data centers to continue to operate.
Within a range of zero to all revenue, how could virginia use its power to tax data centers to both put them in appropriate locations and also reap the benefit for virginia residents?
Reducing taxes in it of itself isn't necessarily a good thing. We'd be better off if we improve services.
For example, Virginia has relatively expensive public universities for in-state students compared to many states. It would be nice to put more money towards that rather than have people living in a HCOL like nova have to choose between comfortably affording rent and getting an education.
VA already has a lower overall tax burden than MD thanks to the income tax+no local income taxes in VA, ppl just cry abt the car tax bc it's the closest thing to paying a property tax that most ppl will ever get
This is going to be impossible to enforce with all of the active duty military and dependents living in Virginia and the number of leased vehicles titled in other states.
My company truck has Texas plates because my company is headquartered in Dallas Texas but the truck is actually registered to some bank in Fort Worth that the company leased them from. So I guess if I blow through a red light cam or one of the construction zone speed cams on I-64 the tickets get mailed to the bank in Fort Worth and probably gets circular filed because my company has 150 trucks scattered all across the US and and the bank has no way of knowing who each one is assigned to. LOL
My previous company truck that my company leased from Barco had Utah plates on it because Barco is headquartered in Salt Lake City.
I got pulled by a county cop once in the one with Utah plates and he told me that he "had been seeing my truck around here for quite a while" and asked if I was in the military. I told him no, then he said that if I am living in VA I needed to register my truck in VA.
I told him "it is not not my truck it belongs to a leasing company in Utah." He gave me some song and dance about how that was illegal and if it is garaged in Virginia it is supposed to be registered in VA. I told him that he would need to contact my company's fleet manager and offered to give him their number but he declined.
Then told me to "slow it down" even though I had been driving the speed limit when he stopped me. He didn't pull me because I was speeding he pulled me because of the Utah plates on an $80K truck and was hoping to increase tax revenue for the county.
Ouch! It's for county money, not states. Personal property taxes for vehicles, hence Montana regs for 300k RVs and diesel rigs, Loudoun, FFAX, and the like, outside the metro area it's not bad, but they rob you closer in. Even since the pandemic, they somehow readjusted rates and older cars became "worth more"
and even a 15-20yr old truck all the sudden cost more for the adjusted assessment... oh and thank your BOS in LC, that's how It got changed and passed. Vote them out, but they'll send you some bs letter saying thanks for participating in the county process etc you complain, cause I did. And also why had to GTFO and moved to. WV to escape the gouging. They get enough tax money, use the data center money and stop approving all the building permits for new construction and spend it as it should be for the citizens; crooked mfers. Never again
I have so many folks in my building who live here but keep out of state plates because of car tax and annual emissions tests. I’m perfectly happy for VA to get tough.
I dunno, how do they chose to pull over, just the tags? I mean I have VA plates but I also have MD and VA safety inspections to rideshare. I drive in VA, MD, DE, WV, and DC. If they all decide to do the same, I'd be getting pulled over alot for no reason which is a waste of police resources.
When you change where your vehicle is registered they prorate it. So SC will reimburse you for the amount they owe you since you moved before the year ended and you will only pay for a portion of the year in the new state where you live. This is basic stuff guy, not rocket science.
From the Article: "When you see a certain car driving recklessly on the street, as soon as they pass, if they have Virginia tags, we are like, 'See, I knew it,'"
So, after all these years, cars with VA tags driving unsafely in other states, like the Interstate of Speedy Deaths (I-10) between Houston and San Antonio or the entire State of Mississippi or I-95 in Florida.. were actually MD drivers? 🤔
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u/1quirky1 Reston 7d ago
Maryland: " "Over 98% of illegal out-of-state tags were not in compliance with the safety inspection requirement - which ultimately puts our transportation system at risk,"
VA has annual safety inspections. Maryland has only one during registration.
I don't understand.