- Jurisdiction
- Connecticut
After reading the forum concerning numerous individuals who have had problems with the State of Connecticut trying to collect improper past due property taxes on motor vehicles, I thought I'd respond. I was also in a similar situation to many of the other posters who were being unjustly charged property taxes after moving out of Connecticut. All posters should understand a few basic facts:
> The State of Connecticut has severe budget deficits, and in all liklihood the cities and towns have been told to aggressively try to collect any and all taxes, even the questionable ones (they believe most people will not try to fight it and just pay).
> The CT DMV and inidividual townships/cities tax offices do NOT have a system in place to communicate with eachother on a regular basis, other than a general database showing the DMV when past due taxes exist on a motor vehicle. The townships or cities appear to not want to spend the money or time trying to establish sensible lines of communication with the CT DMV.
> As a result of the above, lazy civil service workers in CT resort to the age old principal under the law that it is the responsibility of the tax payer, not the state, to remedy any tax issues if a municipality is claiming taxes are owed (depsite the fact that many have provided proof that that they no longer lived in CT for some time).
> CT has created a general statute that allows it to collect improper taxes and compensate for the incompetance of its civil service workers. Under this statute, the taxpayer must separately notify the tax office of his/her township within 1 year of moving out of state, even if you turned in your plates and have a plate receipt. Fail to do this, and they can tax you under statute as if you had been living in CT all along. In other words, because they had to keep your name on the tax rolls due to their own incompetence and/or understaffing, they are going to make you pay.
Best advice I can give is to have an attorney check the state statute in CT regarding property taxes on vehicles no longer in the state. Another piece of advice would be to contact any investigative news organizations (it's time CT received more bad P.R. about this). Although what the state of CT may be doing is legal under its own statute, it is highly unethical and a disgrace. I would suggest that anyone who has fell "victim" to this situation to never give the State of CT another tax dollar ever again (remember, there is state tax imposed on almost all goods and services in any state, including lodging, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.). In other words, do not spend a single penny in CT ever again if you can manage it. Also, you may want to write to some CT state officials and express your disgust and what you intend to do about it (although your letter will probably be acknowledged but thrown away). Maybe it's just symbolic of what's been going on around the country for the past 8 years.....
> The State of Connecticut has severe budget deficits, and in all liklihood the cities and towns have been told to aggressively try to collect any and all taxes, even the questionable ones (they believe most people will not try to fight it and just pay).
> The CT DMV and inidividual townships/cities tax offices do NOT have a system in place to communicate with eachother on a regular basis, other than a general database showing the DMV when past due taxes exist on a motor vehicle. The townships or cities appear to not want to spend the money or time trying to establish sensible lines of communication with the CT DMV.
> As a result of the above, lazy civil service workers in CT resort to the age old principal under the law that it is the responsibility of the tax payer, not the state, to remedy any tax issues if a municipality is claiming taxes are owed (depsite the fact that many have provided proof that that they no longer lived in CT for some time).
> CT has created a general statute that allows it to collect improper taxes and compensate for the incompetance of its civil service workers. Under this statute, the taxpayer must separately notify the tax office of his/her township within 1 year of moving out of state, even if you turned in your plates and have a plate receipt. Fail to do this, and they can tax you under statute as if you had been living in CT all along. In other words, because they had to keep your name on the tax rolls due to their own incompetence and/or understaffing, they are going to make you pay.
Best advice I can give is to have an attorney check the state statute in CT regarding property taxes on vehicles no longer in the state. Another piece of advice would be to contact any investigative news organizations (it's time CT received more bad P.R. about this). Although what the state of CT may be doing is legal under its own statute, it is highly unethical and a disgrace. I would suggest that anyone who has fell "victim" to this situation to never give the State of CT another tax dollar ever again (remember, there is state tax imposed on almost all goods and services in any state, including lodging, restaurants, movie theaters, etc.). In other words, do not spend a single penny in CT ever again if you can manage it. Also, you may want to write to some CT state officials and express your disgust and what you intend to do about it (although your letter will probably be acknowledged but thrown away). Maybe it's just symbolic of what's been going on around the country for the past 8 years.....
