You ever get in your car in the morning to drive to work and think about what a privilege it is to drive on the King’s roads? Yeah me neither, but every time you register your car you must pay the car’s excise tax. You might not have even known you were paying it.

Sure, it is right there on the registration but, who really looks at the information on the registration. Once you stand in line at your town’s office and wait for the staff to call you forward you just want to leave while there is still a sun hanging in the sky. Dash out the door and throw that paperwork in the glove box until either next year comes around or you hear that voice that asks for your license and registration.

The excise tax is levied because, despite paying a King’s ransom in sales taxes, gasoline taxes and registration fees, you must still pay for the privilege of mobility. The real kicker on this tax is that it is not even based on what you paid for the vehicle. The excise tax in the state of Maine is based on the MSRP, or Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price.

You read that right. You are being taxed on money that, in most cases, you did not spend.

You have seen the flyers. Every local dealer in the area sends them out. Sometimes they are multi page inserts in the paper. Sometimes they are mailings made to look like a check. In either case they say things like, “$500 off invoice” or $2,000 off MSRP.” After all, the theory is that these deals will draw you in. Right?

For your bottom line, these deals look really good. Unfortunately, that sweet 2018 model that you just got a great deal on is a figment of your imagination. The state will not recognize that really good deal. In fact, you will be paying an amount in taxes based on that MSRP for as long as you own the vehicle.

Over the life of the vehicle you will be constantly paying taxes on money that you never spent. My God! It is almost like the state has a license to print cash.

This year the Legislature had a chance to start to make this right. LD 1687, An Act to Amend the Laws Governing the Calculation of Excise Tax on Automobiles, came before the Legislature. This bill would have helped to fix a problem in Maine’s laws that has been on the books since Gov. Brewster was in the corner office and President Coolidge was in Washington D.C. While this bill did not go far enough in completely repealing the excise tax it was a start. At least the first year would have been based on the actual cost that was paid for the vehicle.

It is quite amazing that a tax based on what you paid for something can be so exciting.

Some members in the Legislature tried to vote so quickly to kill this bill that they did a burnout on the floor of the Maine House. Alright maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but this bill did get their motors running. With the exception of two Republicans, Mason and Pierce, who voted for this bill, and a Democrat, Daughtry, who did not vote, every other member of the Maine House from this area voted to take more of your money.

It must tell you how great the bill was for the us tax payers if members from both parties were trying to kill it.

When you step up this year to pay to register your car and pay the excise tax, remember that you are paying taxes on money you never spent. I get it. Taxes are about paying our fair share. But when does it become less about our fair share and more about their straight up greed?

That’s my two cents…

Jonathan Crimmins can be reached at j_ [email protected]