1. figures.

Posted by: Realist on December 9, 2005 11:57 AM

2. "Don't ask me what I want it for... If you don't want to pay some more"
~Taxman, The Beatles~

If they told you what they were spending your money on, you might be able to hold them accountable for getting stuff done.

I heard that Gregoire announced a budget surplus a few days ago, and that "now is not the time to increase taxes" (That was yesterday)

I like government. I need government. Otherwise how would I spend my money?

Posted by: Jason Woodruff on December 9, 2005 11:59 AM

3. Popeye's Tax man was less intense then Gregoire!

And remember, this is not the last time she has stated openly "Now is not the time to increase taxes" But the new January session will be!

So remeber these people and get the heck out and vote!

Posted by: GS on December 9, 2005 12:04 PM

4. Shark, more interesting observation on this is that they now require driver's license number to register one's automobile in order for the gov't to go after residence address to determine if he/she is evading any taxes. Like I wrote in the other thread about Office Building Voters, the very people who run Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division can actually attempt to clean up the automobile registration records through driver's license while the same people simply disregard the same task on voter registrations. The only difference is that there is money to take from people.

Posted by: C. Oh on December 9, 2005 12:06 PM

5. Hmmmm! These postcards must be printed for the visually impaired.

Posted by: Fed Up on December 9, 2005 12:47 PM

6. And it's going to be a real pain for taxpayers who itemize deductions on their federal income tax returns, since only the excise taxes are deductible. Even if they compute them manually, they won't have any record to show what they paid if they are audited.

Posted by: A Taxpayer on December 9, 2005 04:24 PM

7. I just went to the DOL web site and used their excise tax estimator. According to the DOL, my car is worth roughly 50% more than blue book value. I guess when Ron Sims & co. want to raise Sound Transit taxes they just play with the depreciation tables and voila, 50% tax increase without any bothersome votes or publicity. Why did they take the tax breakout off our car tab bills? Oh yeah not enough room. If you believe that I have a tunnel I want to sell. It's a steal for only only $4 billion!

Posted by: Gold Plated Junker on December 9, 2005 08:52 PM

8. Hey taxpayer: excise taxes are NOT deductable. Schedule A of 1040 allows for deductions of property taxes. That is where you put the amount of SMP and ST taxes. Those taxes are based on the value of vehicles, so they are property taxes. I've done a bunch of these . . . ask anyone who prepares returns around here.

Posted by: accountant on December 10, 2005 08:12 AM

9. Being a new resident of Washington and unimpressed with the high taxes, especially sales tax, on vehicles and fuel I wondered what Washington's response would be if I pruchased a vehicle in Oregon-25 miles away-and registered it to a mail box like the voters in Seattle are doing. I have my answer. But now, why don't they have a $529 fine for voters that violate registration statutes?

Posted by: tom scott on December 10, 2005 09:04 AM

10. Sorry, accountant, read Sheehan (it came out last month):

http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=760365MAJ

7 Judges say the MVET's are EXCISE taxes.

The only two who agree with you are 1) a shill for the BIAW and 2) a libertarian whack job.

Posted by: R. Jones on December 10, 2005 12:29 PM

11. Jason,
She said that before the Nov 2004 election and we got over 600 million in new taxes and 8.5 billion in transportation taxes. Even though, Washington State Reps & Senators got a fed law passed that allows for a federal deduction for states without a state income tax, you will have a hard time claiming any of the new taxes come next April because of the way they collect the taxes. Go buy gas and look at your receipt, you won't any tax on the receipt, not federal or state, buy a pack of cigarettes and you see the same thing. I don't drink, so I can't tell you about the alcohol tax.

Posted by: sgmmac on December 10, 2005 07:39 PM

12. R.Jones:

First, your link doesn't work. Second, if what you say is true about those seven judges, and assuming they paid those taxes and they itemize, I guarantee you they listed those tax amounts as deductions as property taxes on Schedule A.

Third, there is no other way you CAN deduct car tab fees other than as property taxes. Excise taxes (sales taxes an individual paid to state or local governments) are for the first time deductible for TY2005. However, that is not what car tab taxes are -- they are personal property taxes collected when a vehicle is registered.

Here is what the 2005 IRS Instructions to Form 1040, Schedule A say about Line 7 on that Schedule (this is on p. 5)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sa.pdf:

"Personal Property Taxes. Enter personal property tax you paid, but only if it is based on value alone and it is charged on a yearly basis. Example. You paid a yearly fee for the registration of your car. Part of the fee was based on the cars vlaue, and part was based on its weight. You can deduct only the part of the fee that was based on the car's value."

This is how it has always been for car tab fees paid to DOL in Washington. Same thing when the 2.2% was paid to the State, and same thing with the Sound Transit and SMP taxes. The instructions to Schedule A from previous years specifically stated that excise taxes are not deductible. Car tab taxes are deductible because they are property taxes.

Posted by: accountant on December 11, 2005 08:43 AM

13. Last month our Supreme Court sided with ST and SMP, and gave car tab taxes a different name than what the IRS calls car tab taxes.

Think about it. The IRS says car tab taxes are taxes on personal property (cars), paid annually in exchange for registration. The Supreme Court could have agreed with that IRS characterization. But that would mean ST and SMP would have had to make refunds, and the taxes could not be collected going forward. ST and SMP do not have statutory authority for annual personal property taxes.

Instead of refunds to the taxpayers, the Supreme Court’s decision to call those two car tab taxes “excise” taxes means 1) B of A gets its loan paid back, and 2) ST gets to keep some money it does not need and never should have collected.

Feel free to ask ST and SMP what line on your 2005 Schedule A you should use to itemize their car tab tax amounts. They will do one of two things. They might say “we don’t give tax advice.” That’s horse-pucky – they spend millions of dollars on legal fees every year to advocate to judges and legislators about what tax laws mean. If they are honest, they will say in 2005 you should itemize the car tab taxes you paid them on Line 7 of Schedule A (“Personal Property Taxes”).

These two local car tab taxes are not “excise” taxes. ST’s sales tax IS an excise tax, and it can not be deducted on Line 7 of the 2005 Schedule A (and it never was deductible before this year, just like the State sales tax never was deductible before 2005).

Happy Holidays.

Here are the links:

http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=760365MAJ

http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.opindisp&docid=760365DI1

Posted by: Novaris on December 12, 2005 09:22 AM

14. Hint – Do not ignore an on point ruling from the highest State court.

The court specifically held the ST and SMP car tab taxes were NOT personal property taxes. It determined they were excise taxes, just like the name says: Motor Vehicle Excise Taxes.

You can not (legally) itemize excise taxes on a line on the 1040 Form for listing “Personal Property Taxes” you paid. Find a different line to itemize them (or don’t deduct them).

Posted by: benign neglect on December 13, 2005 08:43 AM

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