ray lunder wrote:
Ahoy, I live in Washington state and am thinking about my first "real"
boat- a blue water cruiser in the $30k-$120k. When I buy a car I pay
something like 8% or if it's a gift or a damaged vehicle or you phoney
up the bill of sale you still pay some arbitrary made up blue book
value the state institutes and which is not insignificant. On a $100k
boat this is $8000. Something tells me rich people don't pay this. So
what's the scam? Foreign registry or forming your own corporation or
what? Sorry to be so clueless. Thanks for your time.

I just went through this in Pt Angeles Wa. They determined the value
by going to Yachtworld and Boattrader and based the value on the lowest
price they could find for the same boat and comparable year.
As for who checks the boats in the marina, here, the state has people
who walk the marinas looking at the boats for stickers. They don't do it
often in Pt Angeles as witnessed by the number of boats with tags 2 or 3
years out of date.
Gordon

"ray lunder" wrote
Something tells me rich people don't pay this.

Not until they get caught, anyway:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/...revenue12.html
Ken Williams, former CEO of the software company Sierra On-Line, said he has
no idea how the Department of Revenue caught him when he moored his
unregistered 62-foot yacht at his waterfront home in Mercer Island for a
year in 1998.

"They nabbed me," he said, adding that he was willing to pay the $130,000 in
past-due sales taxes immediately.

He was philosophical about it, saying, "There's got to be schools and a lot
of things. Government can't run without something." After paying, he took
his yacht the Sans Souci -- which is French for "carefree" -- to Europe for
a visit and later sold it. Now living in West Seattle, Williams intends to
buy another boat and this time he said he will pay the tax right away.

Use taxes also apply to out-of-state boat owners who stay in Washington too
long, over a six-month limit for a visitor's permit.

Silicon Valley financial executive James Heffernan got caught with a 58-foot
yacht he has since sold, lingering too long in Roche Harbor in 1999, he
said. His boat the Andiamo -- which is Italian for "get going" -- didn't get
going soon enough to avoid the tax, he said. He was less than a month over
the six-month visitors' limit and had to pay a tax of a little less than
$100,000. He figures agents were walking the docks.

"They caught me. I was wrong and frankly, you don't have too much defense
for ignorance," he said. Fortunately for the state, Williams and Heffernan
paid promptly. Several cases on file with the state board of tax appeals
show that collections can take years. The most notorious case in recent
years was the saga of tax cheater Michael Albert Price.

Price, now 59, bought a 53-foot yacht in February 1990 and claimed it was a
charter boat, avoiding state sales tax. But revenue agents discovered he was
far too frequently using the boat himself, not strictly chartering it.
Price, the owner of a large Tacoma equipment leasing company, was assessed a
tax of $24,600, with interest, in March 1992. He took seven years to pay,
filing lengthy appeals before the Department of Revenue's Interpretation and
Appeals Division and then the state Board of Tax appeals, according to court
documents.

A month after he paid, revenue agents discovered he'd already bought a
73-foot yacht that he called Price's Waterhouse. Once again, he cheated on
his taxes. Court documents show that he filed false papers to support his
assertion that he'd bought the vessel for $690,000 when in fact the price
was $3.2 million.

This time he faced criminal charges. It took another two years before the
executive pleaded guilty in King County Superior Court to tax evasion,
agreeing to pay $442,661 in restitution, including taxes, penalties and
interest.

He couldn't be reached for comment.

On Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:23:44 -0500, Gogarty wrote:

There is a Canadian boat in our marina in New York that has never registered
locally. Never goes to Canada either. Been there for years. What's amusing is
the marina is city owned and operated.

I bet the taxes are higher in Canada, and the enforcement stricter, which
is why the boat has been sitting in NY.

Matt O.

ray lunder wrote:
Ahoy, I live in Washington state and am thinking about my first "real"
boat- a blue water cruiser in the $30k-$120k. When I buy a car I pay
something like 8% or if it's a gift or a damaged vehicle or you phoney
up the bill of sale you still pay some arbitrary made up blue book
value the state institutes and which is not insignificant. On a $100k
boat this is $8000. Something tells me rich people don't pay this. So
what's the scam? Foreign registry or forming your own corporation or
what? Sorry to be so clueless. Thanks for your time.

Not sure what you'd do in WA, but in San Diego, and often in LA, big
buck boat buyers take possession of the boat in Ensenada Mexico. They
keep it there in a marina for 91 days, then sail/motor it home. Avoids
the 8% sales tax. CA still hits you for the 1% annual property tax,
however, and they have a special crew wandering marina docks checking
for boats not on the property tax list. BTDT. Lot of hassle, but when
you're talking $10-20K sales tax (no, not on *my* boat :-) people seem
to think its worth it.

I bought my boat used in Arizona where there's no sales tax on resales
by private owners. I moved it to San Diego in under 90 days, and a year
later got a sales tax bill from CA. Charming chaps that they are, if
you don't have a notarized bill of sale (which I didn't feel the need
for at the time since the boat is documented), they determine the value
for which you're taxed.

Keith Hughes

On Dec 14, 11:43 pm, ray lunder wrote:
Ahoy, I live in Washington state and am thinking about my first "real"
boat- a blue water cruiser in the $30k-$120k. When I buy a car I pay
something like 8% or if it's a gift or a damaged vehicle or you phoney
up the bill of sale you still pay some arbitrary made up blue book
value the state institutes and which is not insignificant. On a $100k
boat this is $8000. Something tells me rich people don't pay this. So
what's the scam? Foreign registry or forming your own corporation or
what? Sorry to be so clueless. Thanks for your time.

Ya, you Washingtonians are always bragging about your no personal
income tax then turn around and whine bout all the other taxes ie
$2000 to register your new car every year! Down here in Oregon, land
of the NO sales tax, I was paying bout $35 every two years for my
state boat registry. It went up bout when Bush got in office. Now I
pay bout $125every two years.

I bought my boat in Port Townsend, WA. then brought it down to Oregon.
No Wasington Sales Tax if left the state with in ?? days.

I have a nice little room to rent down here if ya want to be an
Oregonian? BUt yad have to get a OR drivers licence to make your
citizenship all leagal. But then yould have to pay Oregon State
Personal income tax along with the IRS Fed cut too.
Living in Oregaon It not a bad deal if your poor and live on mega
yacht...........
By-the-book-Bob

Looks like a lot of people here ought to become Libertarians, or at
least Republicans. In this great country we can change the laws. We
don't need to break them.

Stephen

On Dec 15, 11:18 am, Stephen Trapani
wrote:
Looks like a lot of people here ought to become Libertarians, or at
least Republicans. In this great country we can change the laws. We
don't need to break them.

Stephen


Replikan???!?! No way............ Born in Oregon and got ggparents
burried 1886 in Oregon. Got a moutain, a lake, and a street named
after the family. Confirmed Democrate and wish Oregon would get a
sales tax. Then give residence a sales tax rebate come April 15th
Maybe Oregon would finaly get all thoes visitors to pay for some of
the services they use with out paying sales tax...... If we had too
many Republicans here it would be like Idaho................ Uh, I
just dont want to go there. Idaho is wrong on too many levels.
bob

Subject

Establish a permanent residence in a non tax state.

Nevada and Wyoming come to mind.

Lew

Nope... It's called a sales and USE tax for a reason... if you use your
boat in a state that has a sales tax btu you bought it in one without OR
with a smaller one.. most have the ablility to tax you on the diff.

Florida is the worst... if you come to a boat show, you have 2 weeks
after the last work is done to get her out of FL. If you move here
from SC you pay the full tax...

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Subject

Establish a permanent residence in a non tax state.

Nevada and Wyoming come to mind.

Lew

Nope... It's called a sales and USE tax for a reason... if you use your
boat in a state that has a sales tax btu you bought it in one without OR
with a smaller one.. most have the ablility to tax you on the diff.

Florida is the worst... if you come to a boat show, you have 2 weeks
after the last work is done to get her out of FL. If you move here
from SC you pay the full tax...

Lew Hodgett wrote:

Subject

Establish a permanent residence in a non tax state.

Nevada and Wyoming come to mind.

Lew