On Feb 20, 12:22�pm, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:


Hey, look at it this way - it could be CT where you have to pay "usuage"
tax - whoops, I meant fee - if your boat is registered out of state and
it's in a marina here in CT.

CT also is a non-title state for boats. *Which basically means that you
can steal a boat in another state, bring it here, register it and take
it to another title state to sell it. *Pretty neat huh?

That use tax thing isn't all that uncommon. We have a version of it in
Washington. I think you'll find that simply being in a marina doesn't
trigger the tax if you're just passing through. After a statutory
period of time in a dedicated slip, (often 90 days), many states
conclude that a boat is being kept in the state on a permanent basis
and will require the vessel to be registered in the state. "Use tax"
is a substitute for sales tax, as there is no actual sale being made.
The good news is that if you paid sales tax when you bought your boat
(and have the purchase paperwork to prove it) nearly all states honor
a "reciprocal" agreement with other sales tax collecting states.
If the sales tax rate was as high or higher where the boat was
purchased, you normally get a free pass on the "use tax" (but not the
tab fee) in the second state. If the tax was lower, you typically have
to pay the difference. If a purchase in State A was originally taxed
at 5% and State B collects 9%, moving a boat from State A to State B
will trigger a 4% use tax.

States with higher sales taxes than neighboring states, (especially
back east where the state lines are a couple of hundred yards apart
grin), rely on such a system to prevent each and every vehicle and
vessel purchase being made
just across the state line.

A lot of times people react with a wink, a nod, and a "good for you!"
when they hear of somebody lying to evade taxes. I wonder how many of
the supporters stop to consider that somebody is still paying for all
of the government services that the tax evaders use, and that somebody
is (partially) them. I'm not much better, I tend to turn a blind but
disapproving eye toward bogus out-of-state boat registrations; I guess
there's a difference between not being the least bit sympathetic when
the liars and cheaters are caught and actually turning them in.