The irony of value
Value: |ˈvalyo͞o |
noun
the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something
It’s that time of year again, some people call it tax season, I call it shakedown season. No matter what you call it, real estate tax and personal property tax in our state is due by December 31. My politics lean towards libertarian anarchism, so this paying of taxes is not something that lends itself to being a task I appreciate. ( I will say that our county courthouse has stellar customer service, it helps to be friendly to the people you are shaking down.)
Part of what infuriates me about the tax structure in our state is the fact that when you purchase a new item such as a vehicle,farm equipment, boat etc. you pay sales tax on it. Then every year you fill out an assessment form listing the things that you own and pay personal property tax on it again. If you don’t pay the personal property tax, you can’t renew the tags on your vehicles. Double taxation much?
I filled out our assessment form, listed all our vehicles, and our ONE piece of equipment, which happens to be a1978 Bobcat skid steer .
Now,I have no knowledge of how the value of personal property is assessed, but I can tell you that the vehicle we use the least, a 2005 GMC truck costs us the most in personal property tax. It’s a good truck, we use it when we take longer trips and if we need to haul something heavy, but its value to us is relatively low, its not essential to our homestead. Our skid steer however, is vital to our way of life right now. We use it everyday, and couldn’t do what we are doing without it. What do you think it’s valued at? Nothing. According to the assessment done on it, it has no value. We don’t pay any tax on it at all. While it’s nice to not pay taxes on it, its very ironic to me that the one of the things we value the most is considered worthless, and one of the things that we have as a convenience is valued highly.
Value is subjective, and to us that old skid steer is worth its weight in gold, we appreciate having it, and every day it helps us get closer to our goals. The truck, not so much. This yearly shakedown experience has been valuable to us, it caused us to take a look at what we own, and decide how much regard we have for each item. We have asked ourselves if the value we place on these things is worth paying taxes on them, and how much energy are we willing to expend in order to keep said item.
2005 GMC truck for sale!
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STOPInteresting piece - one mans gold another mans, actually I forget the rest of that! :)
I am in the UK and intrigued - do you pay tax on all your possessions or are you talking just vehicles here?
We pay road tax annually which, with a car maintenance certificate MOT and insurance means you are legal on the roads. Is this similar?
Reading this I imagine having to pay tax on all your belongings annually which would be a swizz of the highest order.
Interesting the differences eh.
xox
I think the phrase is " one mans trash is another mans treasure. We pay all sorts of taxes. Personal property tax, which is what I referenced in the post real estate tax on any land we own and sales tax on everything except services. It's a load of sh*t. Our country is broken.
Oh, also Federal and state income tax.