A wise perceptive letter was printed on the Voices page the other day. It was written by John Brayman of Little Rock. He remarked on our column about people who drive with expired temporary tags. Our advice was to get information from the tag, visit a city attorney and ask that a warrant be issued.
Time-consuming and bureaucratic, Mr. Brayman said. Why not require auto sellers to collect vehicle sales tax at the point of purchase?
This got us to thinking. Such as it is. Our theory is that people don't get their cars registered because the sales tax is, well, breathtaking.
We peppered Scott Hardin with questions; he speaks for the Department of Finance and Administration. From his answers, and our imagination, we concocted this tale of joy, woe and procrastination.
Let's say a guy wants to buy his dream truck. He picks out a 2018 pickup with four-wheel drive and six savage cylinders. Black onyx exterior, leather inside. Yeah, baby!
The MSRP is $41,000. Our guy wrestles the sales manager, takes two out of three matches and gets the price down to $39,000.
Our guy gets a 30-day drive-away tag from the dealer, pays $10,000 as a down payment, and signs for a 72-month loan, hoping he lives long enough to pay off the truck. If not, that's his wife's problem.
After a few days, our guy heads to the Revenue Office. The nice lady behind the counter says the sales tax on that dream truck is $2,535. Or, 6.5 percent of the sale price. Because that's the state sales tax on both new and used vehicles -- 6.5 percent.
Actually, that's not quite complete. Our guy's city and county each levy a 1 percent sales tax, which is applied to the first $2,500 of the sale price. Tack on another $50.
Says our guy: "I want my Mommy!" Because after coughing up 10 large for his down payment, he has approximately two nickels to rub together. So he covers his face with his hands, dashes out of the Revenue Office and plans to register the truck when he can drum up the total of $2,585 in sales tax. In maybe three months.
Perhaps it would have been better if the dealer had collected the sales tax, kind of like Walmart collects sales tax on the spot on everything it sells. That way our guy would have had a completely clear picture of the cost of his dream truck.
But Arkansas law specifically provides that taxes due will be paid by the consumer at the time of registration.
How to change the current system? Via the state Legislature. Maybe our guy could run for the General Assembly, introduce legislation to that effect, and see what happens.
Footnote: The dream truck has a towing package. Our guy plans to buy a boat and trailer. Yep, same sales tax applies, payment at registration.
Vanity plate seen in Fort Smith: FSHNGRL
Fjfellone@gmail.com
Metro on 04/21/2018