"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Are they trying to collect taxes from non-residents?

ONLY if the boat stays at the SAME marina for over 2 months at a time...3
months in a tax year. Transient boats are NOT taxed like yours would be.

It's just like a car, but much longer. I think it's stupid, but they
just LOVE recurrent money in the state house in Columbia and the
counties.....


10.5% or even 6% would sure bump SC right off my list of options for
the future.

We have it good here in Maine paying only exise tax on boats. It's
based primarily on horsepower so sailboats cost relatively little.

You do have it good in poor Maine, but, then again, you also have a very
SHORT boating season. In Charleston, boating is a year-round thing. We
go sailboat racing on NEW YEARS DAY...just to start the season on time.

Let's set the record straight and stop guessing.....

As to titling and registering, which brings around the tax bureaucrats
for their cut, this applies to most of you:

SC Code of Laws - SECTION 50-23-30. Exemptions.

This chapter does not apply to a watercraft which has a valid marine
document issued by the Bureau of Customs of the United States Government
or a federal agency successor, windsurfers, and watercraft propelled
exclusively by human power with oars, paddles, or similar devices.

SC Dept of Natural Resources provides the property tax bureaucrats with
their database to send out the PP tax bills from. Documented vessels do
no register with DNR. Now, not being TITLED in SC does NOT mean
Federally-documented boats are exempt from our personal property taxes.
It exempts them from SCDNR licensing...ONLY.

SECTION 12-37-714. Boats with situs in State. [SC ST SEC 12-37-714]

In addition to any other provisions of law subjecting boats and boat
motors to property tax in this State:

(1) A boat, including its motor if separately taxed (outboards over 5HP -
Larry), used in interstate commerce having a tax situs in this State and
at least one other state is subject to property tax in this State. The
value of such a boat must be determined based on the fair market value of
the boat multiplied by a fraction representing the number of days present
in this State. The fraction is determined by dividing the number of days
the boat was present in this State by three hundred and sixty-five days.
A boat used in interstate commerce must be physically present in this
State for thirty days in the aggregate in a property tax year to become
subject to ad valorem taxation.

HERE IT IS! HERE IT IS! SOUTH CAROLINA IS LIKE ALL THE REST OF THE
STATES!! IF YOU BRING YOUR BOAT HERE AND LEAVE IT HERE YOU PAY TAXES
HERE....JUST LIKE ANY OTHER STATE! 60 CONTINUOUS DAYS!! 90 DAYS IN A
TAX YEAR!!

(2) A boat, including its motor if the motor is separately taxed
(OUTBOARDS OVER 5HP ARE TITLED AND TAXED - Larry), which is not currently
taxed in this State and is not used exclusively in interstate commerce,
is subject to property tax in this State if it is present within this
State for sixty consecutive days or for ninety days in the aggregate in a
property tax year. Upon written request by a tax official, the owner must
provide documentation or logs relating to the whereabouts of the boat in
question. Failure to produce requested documents creates a rebuttable
presumption that the boat in question is taxable within this State.

If your state doesn't tax property like
boats/cars/planes/trucks/motorcycles/slaves (oops...recinded in 1865),
you better stay there and feel damned lucky! The rest of you can live in
each marina in SC for 60 days at a time without being reported. Just
move to stay longer....to another county. The SC tax bureaucrats monitor
marina records, but I doubt they're smart enough to collate separate
marina records.

But, when a boat with OHIO registration sits at the dock at the
government's own City Marina or Maritime Center Marina for 7 months, yes,
the SC tax bureaucrats would like a little donation in Yankee (not
Confederate) dollars to help pay the bills. Charleston is also a DUMPING
ground for unwanted boats, for some reason. Hell, there's boats in lots
of marinas that have been tied up to the same lines for YEARS, never
seeing their owners. The owners live in the frozen Nawth, dragged 'em
down here out of the ice fields and just left 'em! SC tax bureaucrats
want to be paid by them, too, no matter where the owner lives.

Just like every other state.

Larry
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