Column: Time to end double taxation on motor vehicles | Columnists

Previous 12 months, an aged constituent contacted me, disappointed with the taxes she had to fork out when buying a motor vehicle.

When anyone purchases a auto in Oklahoma, they pay out tax on the complete cost of the motor vehicle, but they get no credit score for the benefit of a trade-in. This equates to double taxation. The human being paid out a important volume of tax on the trade-in car when it was purchased, but they get no credit rating when they trade it in. What’s more, when the auto traded in is resold, the state will tax it however again. An illustration of this would be a human being getting a applied car for $21,500. The motor vehicle excise tax in Oklahoma would be $670 regardless of the worth of a trade-in. Now, let us say the particular person trades in a motor vehicle valued at $20,000. In this case, the tax amounts to just about 50 % of the $1,500 maximize in the benefit of the motor vehicle remaining purchased.

In neighboring states, this sort of as Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas, the trade-in worth of a automobile decreases the taxable worth of the invest in, preserving taxpayers cash.

For my constituent – a girl on a set money who requires trustworthy transportation to take care of her family’s health care requirements – this double-taxation was not an insignificant sum.

The time is very long overdue for Oklahoma lawmakers to take care of this dilemma and place Oklahoma taxpayers 1st. We really should operate tricky to ensure we are not an outlier in tax policy. In actuality, we need to be leaders.

Taxes are necessary, but their effect on financial exercise ought to be minimized. Our present tax construction on cars discourages people today from investing in cars and trucks or from obtaining a far more pricey automobile. A pure repercussion of this would be a shortage of utilised automobiles as fewer trade-ins are offered.

Additionally, double taxation just is not ideal, and it’s a cycle that hurts all Oklahomans.

Thanks to my constituent, we’re operating to deal with this issue.

I filed House Bill 2986, which very last 7 days passed out of the Oklahoma Residence of Reps by a unanimous vote of 92-. The bill now awaits thought in the state Senate. This bill will make it possible for taxes on a car invest in to be reduced based mostly on the price of a trade-in.

Mainly because 1 particular person noticed something erroneous and called it to the interest of her point out agent, we hopefully can support families throughout the point out whilst making Oklahoma tax guidelines a lot more aggressive with bordering states.

This is the epitome of engaging with authorities to effect optimistic modify not just for oneself, but for several. The establishments of federal government can look scary, but I’m glad my constituent did not permit that halt her from achieving out.

HB 2986 is just 1 monthly bill in a larger package deal of actions aimed at furnishing tax reduction for the hardworking citizens of our point out. In a time when inflation is at a 40-yr substantial, it’s essential we do all we can to minimize the tax stress for all Oklahomans.