Dear Mahatma: I have found the ongoing discussion on temporary tags very timely. After a 1,200-mile trip recently, I was surprised how many paper tags are out there in the states I traveled. -- Kathleen
Dear Kathleen: We often hear our friends and neighbors say Arkansas people do this, and Arkansas people do that, as if certain behaviors are exclusive to these parts.
Not at all. Bad driving -- ignoring stop signs, running red lights, evading sales tax on the purchase of a new or used vehicle -- is everywhere. Humans are possessed of, gosh, human nature. There is some theory that man can be perfected. As our very own Fabulous Babe knows, perfectibility is impossible. Even incremental improvement is doubtful.
Dear Mahatma: Regarding temp tags and taxes, I come to Arkansas from Maryland, where dealers issue temp tags, collect sales tax, register the car, and get the license and permanent plates for the buyer. The advantage for the buyer is that sales tax can be rolled into the financing. The advantage to the dealer is that financing sales tax generates more profit. -- Home Boy
Yo, Homie: Interesting, but us tightwads think financing sales tax at 6 or 7 percent is spendthrifty. So to speak.
That $2,500 in sales tax, amortized over 72 months at 7 percent, would cost an additional $568.82, or an extra $7.90 a month.
Being cheap, we can do a lot with $7.90. We could take Herself to a nice restaurant.
Still, we get the ease and convenience. Arkansas state law promulgates a system under which the sales tax is paid when the car is registered at the Revenue Office. At such time, the sales tax can become a real horse choker.
Laws can be changed. So start a movement to get state law changed.
Onward! Or something like that, Home Boy.
Dear Mahatma: I like the idea of the dealer collecting the sales tax. Since retirement I've bought three new pickups and always have Stanley Wood Chevrolet in Batesville add the sales tax to the note. They cut me a check for the sales tax, which I then take to the Revenue Office, although it would be much easier for the dealer to remit the tax directly. -- Terry
Dear Terry: It's always a pleasure to hear from you, because you are smarter than we are. On the flip side, that's no great shakes.
Your experience proves there is more than one way to skin a sales tax. Perhaps other readers and dealerships do this.
Your experience also compels me to run out and buy a shiny new pickup. Subject to the approval of She Who Must Be Obeyed.
Also subject to 6.5 percent state sales tax. No way to get around that, other than to drive with the temp tag until either the truck or the driver expires. We suspect, though, the state has ways to collect the tax even beyond the grave.
Vanity plate: IMXCITED.
Fjfellone@gmail.com
Metro on 05/05/2018