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