South Carolina property taxes

I have a friend in SC and his boat is valued at about 38,000, he said his annual property taxes on the boat are $1,500 , that seems totally insane! The state has a sales tax cap of $300, so you could buy let's say a G for 110k and only pay $300 in sales tax but have to pay around $5,000 a year in property taxes ?

That makes zero sense to me. Property taxes generally refer to the assessed value of the house and land, not depreciating assets that sometimes stay there.

Advice for your friend: Find another place to park the boat, other than the location the local property tax office has it listed.

Indiana used to do that. 300% difference on my tax rate if my boat was parked at my house vs. 5 miles away because it was a totally different property tax rate. When I bought my first boat in 1986, I almost had a heart attack when the tax bill on my ski boat was more than the tax on my house. My wife damn near killed me over it.

I then found out that all I had to do is tell them the boat was parked at a different tax location on a certain date. So I asked the tax office who has the cheapest tax rate in my county and they said X which was where my sister lived. I then said my boat will be at my sisters house on March 31. They said fine and lowered my tax 300% for the next 5 years that law was in effect. Except I could not get out of paying that first big bill because the bill was in arrears.

Im glad we changed the law.

Same thing for my parents in Kansas. There tax on their Malibu is more than their house. We are talking personal property tax here, which is assessed on luxury property like boats, campers, etc. It has a huge range by state and is a reason a number of Kansas residents with lake homes in Missouri register their boats in Missouri. Here in Illinois, we don't have any personal property taxes, but the real property tax on our homes will make you cry.

States with high personal property are really cutting down on people registering in other states. You most likely will have to show real property in the state that you're registering or you will may want to brace for a huge back tax bill at some point.

Its true I live in SC. My Supra Launch and my Sanger fx both had the same sales tax even though the supra is worth 3 times more. Also our taxes are not based on value, its based on the price you bought it for. My annual property tax for my Supra Launch was like $77. Gotta love South Carolina!

Every state has to pay the bills and it doesn't matter which party is politically dominant. Dems and GOPs both need revenue. They just have different ways to get it. One get's it in one big chunk on tax day and the other gets it nickel and dime at a time with fees. Both tax bills add up to the same sum. The only way the final bill changes is when you live in a place like Idaho or Montana where there aren't any people so the state's overhead is next to nothing. The more people there are in your state, the more revenue your state will require.

personal property tax sounds horrible, here in pa we are trying like crazy to get rid of real estate taxes, dont let them hear of personal property tax... so much for the home of the free right?