URK! States tax planes from out of state!

[mikea]

PORTLAND, Maine - When Steve Kahn got a $26,000 tax bill on his airplane, he thought Maine Revenue Services had made a mistake. Kahn lives, works, and keeps his plane in Massachusetts.

But the bill was no error. It was part of the agency's efforts to collect taxes on aircraft owned by out-of-state residents, even though they bought their planes elsewhere and brought them to Maine only to visit.

A number of other states, from Florida to Washington, are doing the same as they grapple with budget shortfalls and as the Internet makes it easier to track the comings and goings of aircraft.

...
Maine officials say they are simply enforcing the state's laws when they send bills, into six figures, to out-of-state plane owners.

... In the case of airplanes, tax officials say, the law allows them to collect a 5 percent use tax from people who did not pay sales taxes on their planes if they brought their plane to Maine for more than 20 days, excluding time for maintenance and alterations, in the first year of ownership.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/30/plane_owners_stunned_by_out_of_state_taxes/

That's what we get for being rich enough to be airplane owners.

Time to make a list of these states so we can be sure to never take even $1 there.

BTW, when I bought my plane, the Illinois Department of Revenue tried to come after me for the use tax, even though at the time purchases from private parties were exempt. The revenuers acted like they didn't know about the exemption, which I gather was S.O.P. for them. A clever thing was that the state registration form the revenue department worked from has no check box to indicate a purchase from a private party, so if you checked another box they had you. The state legislature since removed that exemption "loophole."

With the way things are going in Springfield now, I'd look for Illinois to put in a yearly tax if they could. We still only pay $10 a year fee for the state aircraft registration. I'm sure it costs more than $10 to handle the fee. I can't figure out why they haven't gotten around to making that $250 yet.