New Vehicle Laws in California

[YellowThumper]

Like prop 13 or not. It was passed as a way to prevent people from being forced out of homes they had been in forever. Intent is not a "screw you" intent.

I now fall into the category that it was designed for.
Purchased my house 23 years ago for 200k. At that time when I was younger it was a stretch to get. Now house value is around 700k. This is a single story 1400 sq ft home. I am making more money than I ever have and can no longer afford to purchase the home I live in. If taxes went up with the same percentage as the home increases. I would be forced out of it. Just for what a tax bill would be. How is that fair? Do all the right things, save and purchase a home and then get hammered because of it...

Regardless of #13 the average length of ownership in this state is around 11 years. So every 11 years over half are repurchased at the higher and current value. It will not be the touted windfall expected. It will however, hurt the many established older people. Such as who I reluctantly am now.
As I stated earlier never considered leaving. Until now. It all will depend on my bottom line because financial recovery is no longer an option with only a few more years of working remaining.

Mike.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Like prop 13 or not. It was passed as a way to prevent people from being forced out of homes they had been in forever. Intent is not a "screw you" intent.

I now fall into the category that it was designed for.
Purchased my house 23 years ago for 200k. At that time when I was younger it was a stretch to get. Now house value is around 700k. This is a single story 1400 sq ft home. I am making more money than I ever have and can no longer afford to purchase the home I live in. If taxes went up with the same percentage as the home increases. I would be forced out of it. Just for what a tax bill would be. How is that fair? Do all the right things, save and purchase a home and then get hammered because of it...

Regardless of #13 the average length of ownership in this state is around 11 years. So every 11 years over half are repurchased at the higher and current value. It will not be the touted windfall expected. It will however, hurt the many established older people. Such as who I reluctantly am now.
As I stated earlier never considered leaving. Until now. It all will depend on my bottom line because financial recovery is no longer an option with only a few more years of working remaining.

Mike.

Yeah, I think getting rid of prop 13 would be like knifing all those who helped build the state in the back. It's not that much different than dumping social security. I know you've been paying into it your whole life but now that you are no longer contributing, there's no advantage to the rest of us allowing you to actually draw on it.

It could be a wonderful state. I remember when it once was. Politicians, fueled on by low information voters, has allowed them to create a Petrie dish experiment of socialism using the people's money. A lot of people want to come here but it would be interesting to see a breakdown of how many simply want to jump into the wagon versus actually help push it along.

[ragtopdodge]

Yes, CA the sh*thole state that pays more in taxes to the federal govt to help pay for the welfare southern states.

[70 Challenger Lover]

Under Prop 13 they did reassess my home value every year and Mr. Sloan loved asking me for more $$$ every year.

So if you moved into a house and paid 10k a year in Property Tax and your neighbor has been there awhile and pays only 3k a year wouldn't you be pissed? Same services, same police, same stupid crap and on top of it all they have the gall to ask for more $$$ to support(donate) the schools!! WTF?

I understand your side of the story and we can both agree this place is absolutely broken. I'm leaving within 2 years or so.

About Prop 13: I can tell you my Mom makes out being under Prop 13 as of 1978 but everyone else then picks up the tab. I remember the last place I had I was paying over 10k a year just in property taxes so that didn't make me very happy. Prop 13 came about because of high inflation in the 70's but then was fairly tame since.

This is the kind of thinking the Ca. government wants. Prop 13 helps all homeowners and people need to understand it fully before we toss it away.

Prop 13 has several components to it but the biggie is that it sets tax at 1% of purchase price and can only go up a tiny amount each year. This allows people to set long term budgets.

Example: Bought my first house for $175k and the tax was around 2k per year after all the stupid little add on taxes that voters keep approving (mostly school bonds). After living there for ten years, I sold the hous for 450k but my taxes was only about $2300.

I then bought another house for $440k and my taxes were around $5k annually. I've been here for 15 years now. When the market crashed, my taxes went lower for many years. Now that the market has recovered, my house is worth far more than $440k but my taxes are only a little bit higher than when I first bought it.

Without prop 13, they can reassess your house each year and you get a surprise tax bill. Imagine trying to budget getting,ids through college and find that your house goes up in value so your taxes keep jumping up each year. True that elderly benefit most but what's the harm in that? So many are on fixed incomes and couldn't afford to retire if their taxes kept going up. My parents lived in a nice home in Jacksonville for years. They got a new football team and the city jacked up everyone's prop tax to pay for the new stadium. My parents were eventually forced to move away because their taxes went from 4K to over 10k in just a few short years.

A 10k prop tax bill comes from buying a 1.1 million dollar house. Without prop 13, a 2% prop tax rate like many other states have would get you a yearly tax bill over 20k. Don't be too quick to wish prop 13 away.

As far as the rest of us picking up the tab, that depends on how you look at it. If you have a runaway government that wants to increase spending to pay for all its programs, then I guess everyone has to pony up and pay more. That would include those damned old people who are breathing our air and taking up space. Retired folks probably have the crazy viewpoint that they worked hard all their lives and just want to spend the rest of their days living in the same home they always have without being told that they aren't doing enough for the rest of society.

All your other points are spot on. I'm glad people love it here. I want one of them to pay me top dollar for my house when I move out of state.

I certainly agree this place is broken. Wasn't trying to rile you up. So many of us have California stories of how we got screwed over in some way. I just figure that it's in the best interest of the politicians who run this state to pit us against each other so we vote for whatever is put in front of us with the promise that it will make things better. Rather than wish the same misery on our neighbors, we should be voting these Jack asses out of office every few years since they are the ones who create all this mess. I too am looking forward to getting out of here.

[Morty426]

CA governor just declared the entire state a "sanctuary" for illegals.
Going to need to issue a bunch of those $1000 tickets for texting to pay for that....

I have a theory on that...for many years, they have talked about getting rid of what we call proposition 13 which pins our property tax at 1 percent of purchase price and doesn't allow it to go up more than a small amount year to year. There are elderly people living in 800k homes paying 2k a year but if the sell, the new buyer pays 8k. Still a bargain if you look at some areas of the country that pay 2-3 percent. Our last governor openly spoke about how prop 13 hurts the government.

I think they will get the medical insurance thing passed and raise sales tax to pay for it initially (which they said they planned to do). When it turns out not to be enough, they will attack the prop 13 issue again and claim it's the only way to get the money. They have already been trying to chip away at the little protections of prop 13 for years but voters keep rejecting it. Once they force medical insurance spending upon us, voters will be forced to accept the loss of prop 13 to pay for the glorious and righteous new benefit. After all, think of the children. (That particular line never gets old as we vote in new taxes and bonds for schools each and every cycle) Voters will feel guilty and vote for the repeal of prop 13 because after all, it's only fair that everyone pay their fair share.

We just had a new prop in our last election regarding allowing the elderly to keep their low tax rate if they move. While it was accepted by voters, I personally heard a lot of grumbling about how the elderly are cheap for not wanting to pay their fair share and also how most elderly are rich after a lifetime of saving and can easily afford to pay higher taxes. I've wanted over the decades how they do it. They sew seeds of discontent and let people chew on it for a couple years while they keep whispering how unfair something is. Eventually the voters believe it and do what they are told.

I really doubt Prop 13 is going away.  It already has a ton of loopholes.  Anytime you pull a building permit they can reset your tax basis. 

Also 1% is the base.  People keep adding bond measures that add to that 1%.  My favorite is I pay for the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency over $1000 a year.  They used eminent domain to take 2 acres from me so I see it as I get to pay to steal my own land. 

[Morty426]

Don't know how you guys pay for it.
I live in FL, a few yrs ago company decided to move our dept to CA.
VP came in to sell us on the move, when 1 guy mentioned it would cost 50% more to have the same size house and standard of living, he just smiled and said "the weather is awesome".
Of the 100 offered the 10% raise to go, only 5 went.
3 yrs later, 4 of those have moved back.

10% is an insult. 

When I worked for Apple if you wanted to move from Sacramento to Cupertino (Bay Area) they would offer you 15% which was also an insult.  It needed to be 25%

For FL to CA you need somewhere between 50-100% of an increase. 

[Morty426]

I live 1/2 mile from the gateway to the SF Bay Area Delta. It rains here about 4 months a year. Today, we have a slight drizzle with tule fog all day. SOCAL is a bit too dry for me. Here is a picture I took ten months ago looking out the front window. The SF Bay Area has micro climates. Danville is wetter than most cities. SF is a whole lot cooler! San Jose is inundated with smog. I lived in Oakland for four years and the weather there is close to perfect. My son lives in Humboldt County and he said it rains too much up there. I have friends who would never consider leaving the SF Bay Area.

LOL - I lived in Danville from 1975 to 1984.  When we moved there there was one traffic light.  Massive Contra Costa Sheriff presence along with the CHP.  As a teenager I was pulled over all the time. 

[Morty426]

Yes, CA the sh*thole state that pays more in taxes to the federal govt to help pay for the welfare southern states.

Yep we pay more to the Fed than we get yet we are some how terrible. 

We get a bad rap. 

However you can make an incredible amount of money in CA.  Yes some things are more expensive than other places; taxes, gas.  However if I pay $2.75 a gallon for gas yet I make 3X what I could in the Midwest I think I am winning. 

[70 Challenger Lover]

Wow Morty, that's just wrong. True there are some loopholes and I hope you are right about it never going away. I won't be here much longer anyway but I'd hate to see people get hosed over it.

I got a few of those special assessments on my bill as well. I live in Fillmore which is a poorer town than all the ones around it. We like that it is less crowded and houses are more affordable but the school system is failing bad. As a result, every bond measure pertaining to local Fillmore schools get passed by the voters who are largely renters and don't have to pay for the measures they vote for. So I get to pay about $800 per year extra for local schools but because they are so bad, I don't dare let my kid go there. So I pay for private school so she gets a decent education. Burns my ass that I pay so much in taxes for education but I feel compelled to pay for private school just so she gets a decent education that should be covered by my taxes. I could live in a neighboring town that has a better school system but my mortgage would be 300k higher along with an extra 3k plus in property taxes.

California is a trap for the middle class.

[Morty426]

Wow Morty, that's just wrong. True there are some loopholes and I hope you are right about it never going away. I won't be here much longer anyway but I'd hate to see people get hosed over it.

I got a few of those special assessments on my bill as well. I live in Fillmore which is a poorer town than all the ones around it. We like that it is less crowded and houses are more affordable but the school system is failing bad. As a result, every bond measure pertaining to local Fillmore schools get passed by the voters who are largely renters and don't have to pay for the measures they vote for. So I get to pay about $800 per year extra for local schools but because they are so bad, I don't dare let my kid go there. So I pay for private school so she gets a decent education. Burns my ass that I pay so much in taxes for education but I feel compelled to pay for private school just so she gets a decent education that should be covered by my taxes. I could live in a neighboring town that has a better school system but my mortgage would be 300k higher along with an extra 3k plus in property taxes.

California is a trap for the middle class.

I bought my property 14 years ago for $567K - I now pay $11600 annually in property taxes.  I have no children but I pay plenty for school bonds.  I love this State but the Bond Measures are killing us. 

[7212Mopar]

I replaced the siding and windows for my SF house about 15 years ago. For a $45k job, my permit fees was around $6500. For my current house, I did a 1400sf addition and my permit fee was only $4500, but I had to pay $7500 in school fees. They reassess the house and I got a huge jump in P tax. I called them to argue what it should be based on and the timing of the adjustment and got myself an additional bill of $2800. I should have kept my mouth shut and just swallow it. I got my W2 today and once again amazed how much taxes I am paying. By the time I factor all fed, state, local, SS, Medicare, p tax and sales tax (round to 10%), I be lucky to get about 45 cents or so for every dollar I make. These people are now talking about hiking the sales tax more.

[70 Challenger Lover]

I replaced the siding and windows for my SF house about 15 years ago. For a $45k job, my permit fees was around $6500. For my current house, I did a 1400sf addition and my permit fee was only $4500, but I had to pay $7500 in school fees. They reassess the house and I got a huge jump in P tax. I called them to argue what it should be based on and the timing of the adjustment and got myself an additional bill of $2800. I should have kept my mouth shut and just swallow it. I got my W2 today and once again amazed how much taxes I am paying. By the time I factor all fed, state, local, SS, Medicare, p tax and sales tax (round to 10%), I be lucky to get about 45 cents or so for every dollar I make. These people are now talking about hiking the sales tax more.

I've had improvements like that but I've never pulled a permit for fear of exactly what you went through. Of course my improvements were things like new windows etc. where it wouldn't be a big deal down the road. Additions though and you kind of have to or no one wants to buy it with unpermitted additions.

[Morty426]

I replaced the siding and windows for my SF house about 15 years ago. For a $45k job, my permit fees was around $6500. For my current house, I did a 1400sf addition and my permit fee was only $4500, but I had to pay $7500 in school fees. They reassess the house and I got a huge jump in P tax. I called them to argue what it should be based on and the timing of the adjustment and got myself an additional bill of $2800. I should have kept my mouth shut and just swallow it. I got my W2 today and once again amazed how much taxes I am paying. By the time I factor all fed, state, local, SS, Medicare, p tax and sales tax (round to 10%), I be lucky to get about 45 cents or so for every dollar I make. These people are now talking about hiking the sales tax more.

When I built my shop, 9 months after I purchased this place, the added an additional $100K to the property value and sent me a bill for $1000.  After I got divorced 4 years ago they tried to revalue because of a "change in ownership"  - that time I had to go fight with them and I did get them to lower it but a pain in the butt. 

[YellowThumper]

I replaced the siding and windows for my SF house about 15 years ago. For a $45k job, my permit fees was around $6500. For my current house, I did a 1400sf addition and my permit fee was only $4500, but I had to pay $7500 in school fees. They reassess the house and I got a huge jump in P tax. I called them to argue what it should be based on and the timing of the adjustment and got myself an additional bill of $2800. I should have kept my mouth shut and just swallow it. I got my W2 today and once again amazed how much taxes I am paying. By the time I factor all fed, state, local, SS, Medicare, p tax and sales tax (round to 10%), I be lucky to get about 45 cents or so for every dollar I make. These people are now talking about hiking the sales tax more.

When I built my shop, 9 months after I purchased this place, the added an additional $100K to the property value and sent me a bill for $1000.  After I got divorced 4 years ago they tried to revalue because of a "change in ownership"  - that time I had to go fight with them and I did get them to lower it but a pain in the butt.

Same sh!+ happened with my mother. Her brother was a cosigner on the house to be able to afford it. He never made any payments on it. All her. They reassessed it to current value based on ownership change. Reassessment was wrong but she did not have any $$$ means to fight it.
End result, she sold and moved to Washington. Never to come back.

!@#$%^&*

[7212Mopar]

Found a solution for the newer Challenger to avoid getting nailed by the CA muffler law. You can lower your exhaust tone with this setup via a phone app. Still looking for solution for the E Bodies.

XFORCE Varex exhaust system
https://www.xforceusa.com/bolt-on-systems-for/dodge-challenger-2009-to-2011/cid-1063040165

This Youtube video was made on a Mustang. Looks like it is made in Canada.