This is my first time buying a new car. At the risk of sounding like the dumb blonde that I am, (NOT! I'm blonde but not dumb) I must ask--- am I charged the tax rate of the city where the dealer is or the city where I live? I live in San Francisco where the tax is outrageous. Also any recommendations of salespersons in the Bay Area is appreciated.
Thanks!
Poppy, Future 2.8 QTip India Red, loaded!

California sales tax is based on city/county of residence. Buy a car anywhere in the state, get taxed at SF rates.

Sales tax is based on location of _purchase_. If you think about it, it couldn't be otherwise. Does Target ask where you live so they can look up the tax rate for your purchase?

Similar to state to state transactions. If I live in Nevada, but buy something in SF, I pay SF's sales tax, not Nevada's.

Since tax rates are all high in CA, I see no point in shopping around just for tax purposes.

You don't register with DMV when you buy toilet paper at Target, but you do register a car. I've bought lots of cars, most of them out of county. They ALL tax me at the rate of my county of residence.

DMoore
'98 A42.8QTip (bought out of county)
'00 S4M (ditto, week 34, and waiting impatiently!)

The reason sales tax is not based on where you live is that the enormous number of transactions and the relatively small sizes of those transactions make it impractical to levy the tax based on residence. If it were practical, many places would certainly be doing it. Besides, in many cases the it would end up being a wash once you factored in the revenue coming and going from your county. For many items, it is possible (depending on the state) to actually get a refund of your sales tax if you live out of state, which you would then hypothetically report to your own state so that you can pay them instead. In the case of cars, it is relatively small number of transactions all for large amounts, much easier to track and monitor. My car is being purchased out of state, but the dealer is required to collect Texas state sales tax on it. Even if I did manage to pay less tax out of state, the difference would go the Texas when I tried to register the car.

So the point is that the reason they don't ask you where you live when you buy a box of Tampax or some Jolly Ranchers is because they can't do so efficiently. But in most states, I guarantee that they will ask your taxing jurisdiction when you purchase a car, or an airplane, or any other high dollar item.

Christopher
Soon to be CPA
Soon to be driving 2K 1.8TQMS Silver/Black

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