Trailer, trade-in taxes will soon be reduced
Thursday, Aug 19, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Center Square…
Consumers in Illinois looking to trade in vehicles will continue to be double taxed for a few more months, but come Jan. 1, the $10,000 tax cap on such transactions will be removed with a law recently enacted by the governor.
Also starting next year, drivers wanting to get tags for their small trailers in Illinois will be paying less, but not as low as they paid in 2019.
As part of the governor’s multi-year $45 billion infrastructure plan enacted in the summer of 2019 that doubled the gas tax and pegged annual increase to inflation also increased a variety of other fees. One measure increased the tax for some classes of trailers from $18 to $118.
Lawmakers recognized it was an error. This past spring they passed a measure in Senate Bill 54 to drop the fee from $118 to $36. Without any fanfare, the governor signed the bill earlier this month.
ABATE of Illinois’ Josh Witkowski said it’s a win for motorcyclists and other drivers.
“Not only the trailer that you would tow a motorcycle on, but this affected the itty bitty little 300-pound trailers that you tow behind a motorcycle as well,” Witkowski told WMAY. “It was something that a lot of my off-road riders and motorcycle riders were both yelling about and a lot of people were angry all over the state.”
- Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 11:43 am:
==Lawmakers recognized it was an error. This past spring they passed a measure in Senate Bill 54 to drop the fee from $118 to $36.==
I don’t believe for a second it was an error, but I’m relieved just the same. Someone should track the number of TA plates that magically come back on the registration rolls after spending the last two years off the road or driving around expired. This fee reduction may pay for itself.
- thisjustinagain - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 11:53 am:
The TA “error” was believing people would just pay that much for a occasionally-used plate. They knew what they passed; the heat got too high for them. The GA version of Cook County’s soda tax.
- thisjustinagain - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 11:56 am:
Sorry…incomplete thought in my post. Should have said something like “users that only use their trailers occasionally.” For those using TA plated trailers daily, it still was a massive hike that was unjustified.
- Phineas Gurley - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 12:33 pm:
Never would have happened with Sen. Trotter on watch. Who’s the bikers’ best friend in the GA now?
- DuPage - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 12:34 pm:
Now they should make the giant truck-cranes pay for truck plates like all other trucks. A 40 ton truck pays $2890.00 per year for an Illinois truck plate.
A 40 ton giant truck-crane pays $0.00 per year.
While the legislature is adjusting fees, they should correct this loophole.
- Nick Nombre - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 4:36 pm:
What’s not mentioned is that the same bill increases the tax on private party vehicle sales (i.e. sales not made through dealers). For some transactions, there was a 400% increase. for example, the tax on an 11 year old vehicle will now be $100 up from $25.
- Nick Nombre - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 4:44 pm:
For someone buying a $1,000,000 vehicle, the tax went up by over 600%. You don’t need to worry about these wealthy buyers, though. The effective rate for them starts at around 1% of the purchase price, but the average guy that buys a $25,000 used car ends up with an effective rate of over 5%. It’s good to be in the .01%.
- SKI - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 4:53 pm:
Phineas - ABATE still has plenty of friends in the GA on both sides of the aisle.
Senator Trotter is dearly missed though.
- DuPage - Thursday, Aug 19, 21 @ 9:48 pm:
Some seniors who used to send in paper applications for the senior reduced license plates are unable to do so. They have to try to scan and send documents online and don’t have computers with that capability. The Illinois dept. of ageing is unable to assist them and they end up having to pay full price. They stopped accepting applications by mail or fax because it saved a couple minutes of time for the dept. of ageing, but causes many of the people they are supposed to be serving to be unable to get the discounted plates they are entitled to.