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Are taxes on boats too onerous in California?

STATEWIDE — Paying taxes is one of life’s two guarantees. If you are a boater here in California then you are paying taxes property taxes on your vessel as well as sales and use tariffs on transfers of ownership. The way your boat is assessed is determined by something called “situs.” Situs...
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12 Responses

  1. West says: “Out-of-state owners are being taxed for services they are not taking advantage of, such as schools or roads or fire or trash.” I was not aware that zonies parking their yachts in San Diego magically teleported in, without usng roads. Was not aware that the people who serve them, clean their boats, put out their fires or take out their trash do not need education or to be paid.” I have an idea. Tax them double.

    1. As aZonie I feel I do pay a fair amount of taxes in California for the limited time spent there. I buy gas, groceries,eat at restaurants, stay in motels and pay slip fees all of which taxes are paid. The Zonies you say should pay double are the largest part of your tourism industry which supports many local jobs and businesses. You should welcome the Zonies and be proud that people want to share your beautiful area.
      Bill Achtenberg

  2. I have been pursuing the so called “Possessory Interest” tax rip-off and have determined it to be the most idiotic, unfair, and, completely arbitrary tax ever imposed on the boat owning public. I discussed this issue with Mr. Lee (O.C. Assessor’s Office Manager) who was very courteous and furnished information which actually is so convoluted and complex I couldn’t follow it completely. Basically, the tax is ‘whatever they say it is’—period. For instance: If you are in a slip, in a County owned marina, on Jan. 1 you will be billed for use of that slip for the full year. However, if you move out by June 30, the tax will be cancelled. The means test for determining when and how much to tax is not defined, but left up to the discretion of the Assessor’s Office. The baseline is determined by the value of the rent collected on the slip from the boat owners—but that is the only part that is clear. From there, it becomes so confusing and complicated—with arbitrary deductions and exceptions one cannot follow it. The Assessor and Tax Collector are only doing their jobs per the “written law”; and, just like the tax imposed on the tea imported by the Colonists, it is totally wrong, immoral and unjust. We boaters need to take this seriously and put a stop to it. An attempt was made about four years ago but died on the vine. I’m certainly glad the Colonists were more tenacious— and found a simple solution their problems.

  3. Thank you for this very informative article.

    It is even worse in Orange County municipal marinas as boaters have an additional tax assessed on them. Boaters in an Orange County owned wet slip or dry storage space are charged a Possessory Interest Tax on the portion of the facility they do or could use. This includes not only the slip or space, but the dock, the parking lot, and even the bathrooms.

    This tax was written as a tax on private businesses doing business on municipal property. For example a restaurant or a vending machine owner in an airport or a bus terminal would pay tax on the space they used. The idea was that this would even the costs with a business that has a lease in a privately owned building that includes a portion of the property tax in the lease to the business.

    When Dana Point Harbor was built there were three marina companies doing business directly with boaters, the West Marina, the East Marina, and the Embarcadero Dry Storage, and these businesses were charged the PI Tax which was figured into the cost of doing business and passed on to the boater in the monthly rent. The PI Tax became an issue after the county took over the harbor and started dealing directly with the boaters. The rent stayed the same price as it was with the private companies, which remember already included the PI Tax. However the county assessed the tax again keeping the original tax they collect in the rent as clear profit. This seems like double taxation to me and very wrong.

    The leaders of the Dana Point Boaters Association fought the tax for awhile and then those same leaders fought it for many more years as the Boaters 4 Dana Point Harbor. The argument against the PI Tax had to be fought each individual year as a brand new case and each year the tax was reduced for the boaters that submitted the paperwork. However, because the tax had to be fought each year the boaters got weary and gave up.

    Orange County won big, the boaters lost big, and boaters in Dana Point Harbor are paying their PI Tax still today. The cost of boating keeps going up, more families are shut out of this wonderful activity, and we wonder why the family unit is breaking down?

  4. First of all we should welcome Zonies to our marines and communities. Many marinas are barley making money with many slips open. Part of the reason is the incredibly high taxes the boat owners have to pay on top of all the other taxes and fees they have to pay causes them to give up and pull the boat out of the water and or put it up for sale.
    The whole taxation on boat owners and assessors tax calculations are ridiculous. My boat is taxed at 30% higher than it’s true value. I called the assessors office and they said it doesn’t matter what the real value is we have a book that tell us what the taxable value is and that is what you have to pay or we put a lean on your boat and charge you 10 and 20% penalties going high and higher the longer your delinquent.
    What a scam. I certainly don’t see better roads and better schools and better trash systems. The money should go directly back into the marinas and other boating enhancements to make the boaters feel like the money was in some way beneficial to them and their boating environment.
    It’s a bureaucratic rip off and should be abolished…. Happy Boating!

  5. If you have a boat in Dana point Harbor, vote no on Measure M! It’s an $889 million school bond that Capistrano Unified School District will levy on all of our possessory tax bills as well as homes within its boundaries. It’s ultimate cost over a 35 year period is estimated at $1.8 BILLION dollars. It was put on the ballot without community engagement and against the recommendations of almost every city mayor, and the South Orange county economic coalition, just to name a few. (Look at your possessory tax bill – it already has a 1999 measure that we’re still paying for…). To find out more about why you should vote no on Measure M, please visit: http://www.therealcusd.com

  6. How can this guy say there is “no objective evidence” of the sales/use tax causing boat buyers to go elsewhere? There are literally brokers that specialize in offshore purchases expressly to avoid this tax..hell I did one myself and just delivered a boat bought in South Africa partly because of taxes here are too damn high. Commiefornia is killing the boating industry at every chance they get, we used to actually build boats in this state at one point!

    1. Certainly the tax nazis in California have made (and continue to make) life miserable for boaters. As a cruising sailor, and a non-CA resident, it was easy for me to find the sailboat I wanted in another, less greedy state. And I did. The sailboat I LOVED and wanted with all my heart, is still for sale in CA two years later.
      It’s a shame. But it was the same with our beautiful Lazy Daze motorhome (made in SoCal) which we NEARLY bought new in 2003. The fact that we, as non-CA residents, would be forced to hire some stranger (a so-called professional driver) to ‘deliver’ our new coach to a neighboring state put us off, and we ended up buying a slightly used Lazy Daze elsewhere. Of course we could have drove the coach away ourselves had we agreed to pay California sales tax – but neither my wife or I like to be bullied.

  7. Well, I was going to buy a boat. However, after reading this, I’ve decided not to. Thanks a lot!

    1. Me too. Was going to buy and all these extra charges have put me off. There certainly is an impact….

      1. I am going to buy in the Caribbean and keep my boat in Florida to save these damn taxes and I am a native Californian. What a shame.

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