An Act To Amend the Excise Tax on Motor Vehicles To Reflect Depreciation
Sec. 1. 36 MRSA §1482, sub-§1, ¶C, as amended by PL 2001, c. 671, §32, is further amended to read:
(1) On new registrations of automobiles, trucks and truck tractors, the excise tax payment must be made prior to registration and is for a one-year period from the date of registration.
(2) Vehicles registered under the International Registration Plan are subject to an excise tax determined on a monthly proration basis if their registration period is less than 12 months.
(3) For commercial vehicles manufactured in model year 1996 and after, the amount of excise tax due for trucks or truck tractors registered for more than 26,000 pounds and for Class A special mobile equipment, as defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection 70, is based on the purchase price in the original year of title rather than on the list price. Verification of purchase price for the application of excise tax is determined by the initial bill of sale or the state sales tax document provided at point of purchase. The initial bill of sale is that issued by the dealer to the initial purchaser of a new vehicle.
For motor vehicles being registered pursuant to Title 29-A, section 405, subsection 1, paragraph C, the excise tax must be prorated for the number of months in the registration.
summary
Under current law, the base of the motor vehicle excise tax remains unchanged for the purposes of the tax throughout the life of the motor vehicle as the manufacturer's suggested retail price, or maker's list price, and the rate that is applied to that base depreciates over a 6-year period from 24 mils to 4 mils. Under this bill, the rate of the motor vehicle excise tax remains unchanged throughout the life of the vehicle, but the base depreciates over the same 6-year period from 95% of the maker's list price to 15% of the maker's list price, to better reflect the depreciating actual value of the vehicle.